Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
The federal government are better busting criminals every day. Seventeen criminals, much of Eastern Europe, pilfered more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers and fraudulent transactions worth $ 4 million.
The New York Times reports the men were involved in a vast conspiracy known as Express Cybercrime Western Group, which deals with the credit card information stolen through the Internet and used to create counterfeit credit cards and sell products on eBay. They used digital currencies like e-gold and Webmoney to launder their products.
Many scammers - Viatcheslav Vasilyev, Vladimir Kramarenko, Egor Shevelev, Dzimitry Burak and Oleg Kovelin - have been accused of corruption. Vasilyev, 33 and Kramarenko, 31, were arrested at their home in Prague, were extradited to Manhattan. Shevelev, 23, was arrested in Greece last year, is still awaiting extradition. Burak, 26, a citizen of Belarus and Kovelin, 28, a citizen of Moldova was not arrested
Vasilyev and Kramarenko recruited labor of domestic workers to advertise and sell electronics on eBay. When someone buy an item, the two pocket payment from the buyer, give a cut to their recruitment, then use a stolen credit card number to purchase the item from a retail store and send it to the buyer. In essence, they used eBay to get the credit card number of a legitimate buyer through a legitimate channel and does not "hack" anything. They simply set up pseudo-fake auctions of that, in most cases, delivered the product, but also get the credit card number of the victim, then make fraudulent charges.
Burak and Shevelev were "carders" who sold stolen credit card information on a website called Dumpsmarket and probably in the chat rooms. "Dumping" is a criminal term for stolen credit cards and "carders" are crooks that buy and sell them. Kovelin was a criminal hacker who stole financial information by e-mails from phishing and more likely used for victims of the victims own account information against them.
Protect yourself from these types of scams. Check your credit card statements often, especially after using an online auction site. unauthorized refute required within 60 days. Do not buy the product at the lowest price on an auction site. Use auction sellers with a strong track record.
Each time you ever received an email requesting personal information, credit information, banking, etc., do not enter. Just hit delete. Often, victims receive an email from a trusted source like eBay directly into their account because they have been actively involved fraudulent auctioneer. eBay system does not recommend giving your credit card information outside their network in an email.
Get a credit freeze. Go to ConsumersUnion.org and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. And invest in identity theft protection. All forms of protection against identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.
The speaker Identity Theft Robert Siciliano discusses the work at home scams on Fox News.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an expert on identity theft, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 and start-up companies as a consultant on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. the thoughts and advice of Siciliano on all these issues often appear in both television and print media news, including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of safety training as a member of the American Society for Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on high alert; How to take control of your personal safety and to prevent fraud . He also established a partnership with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness of the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips on how you can protect yourself.