carders

'Iceman' pleads guilty in credit card theft case

Max Ray Vision, aka "Iceman," pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of wire fraud stemming from the theft of nearly 2 million credit card numbers and $86 million in alleged fraudulent purchases.

Vision faces up to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced in October in federal court in Pittsburgh, according to federal public defender Michael Novara.

Vision was arrested in September 2007 and accused of operating an underground forum called "Carders Market" where cybercriminals bought and sold stolen credit card numbers and other data. He was targeted as part of a sting operation … Read more

Q&A: FBI agent looks back on time posing as a cybercriminal

In September 2008 police began arresting alleged members of Dark Market, an underground Internet forum for buying and selling credit card data used for identity fraud. The sting wouldn't have been possible without the work of FBI agent J. Keith Mularski who spent two years infiltrating the group.

Mularski became hacker "Master Splynter," a play on the name of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character called "Master Splinter," a rat who lives in New York City's sewers. He was so successful in his online disguise that he ended up running the server that hosted … Read more

How 'carders' trade your stolen personal info

Debit cards and PINs are hot subjects on the criminal underground forums these days, Tom Rusin said on a recent visit to CNET. Rusin is president of North American operations at Affinion Group, a company that monitors the criminal underground for several thousand banking institutions by lurking in carder chat rooms.

"Carders" are the people who buy, sell, and trade online the credit card data stolen from phishing sites or from large data breaches at retail stores. Affinion is one of the largest identity protection companies in the world, with offices in more than a dozen countries. Over … Read more

Security Bites 115: Inside ID fraud's underground forums

This week Tom Rusin, president and chief executive officer of Affinion's North America operation, is Robert Vamosi's guest. His company monitors the criminal underground for several thousand banking institutions by lurking in carder chat rooms.

"Carders" are the people who buy, sell, and trade online the credit card data stolen from phishing sites or from large data breaches at retail stores. Affinion is global, with offices in more than a dozen countries. And over the years they have provided a wealth of information to the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI. A few weeks ago, … Read more