NESTA Crime Online - University of Brighton Repository

are often offered for bulk purchases. 218 Advertisers on underground economy servers are
usually self-policing and report ‘rippers’ 219 to the server administrators. 220 IRC
administrators and operators, the people who provide and run the network, generally do
it on a voluntary basis – which differentiates their operations from a commission-based
model. However they also advertise and benefit from the information shared in the IRC.
There is no overlap or interface between the legal and the illegal advertising-based
models.
Brokerage model: At the heart of the brokerage model are third parties known as
brokers, who bring sellers and buyers of products and services together to engage in
transactions. The broker usually charges a fee to at least one party involved in a
transaction, sometimes both. There are various types of brokerage business model, such
as the auction broker and the transaction broker.
a) The use of the traditional auction brokerage model is now widely used online and
expanded to more goods and services through the basic backing of a commissioned
brokerage agent. For instance eBay is an example of legitimate auction site where the
broker charges the seller (individual/merchant) a listing-fee and commission based on
the transaction’s value and according to varying terms of the offering and bidding. In the
cybercrime business auction fraud is an ordinary practice where the victim will then send
money to pay for the item on which they bid, but they will never be sent the actual item
in question. This type of fraud can be especially difficult to prosecute since the offender
and victim may be located in different countries. Identity theft is another problem
surrounding online auctions, and in many cases fraudulent transactions are used to steal
financial information from the victims. In this model, cybercriminals simply exploit the
weaknesses of the legitimate model.
b) The transaction broker provides third-party services for buyers and sellers to settle
their payment transaction. The goal of the broker is to ensure that the customers obtain
218 Symantec (2008), “Symantec Report on the Underground Economy”, July 07–June 08.
219 Rippers are members of the fraud community who steal from other members by reneging on agreements to
provide cash for stolen data or simply keep the data without paying the provider. See
www.symantec.com/norton/cybercrime/blackmarket.jsp.
220 Symantec (2008), “Symantec Report on the Underground Economy”, July 07–June 08.
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