Media reveals vast online market in bank card information
A recently exposed online underground market in bank card data enables buyers to obtain the personal information of some 1,000 card owners within five minutes, media reported Sunday.
Detailed bank card information including the owner's name, card number, password, cell phone number and ID card number can be bought on the market, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower surnamed Xu told China Central Television (CCTV). Of the information Xu provided for 70 bank cards, data linked to only five was later verified to be incorrect.
Following up on Xu's reports, CCTV revealed an online black market in bank card data involving a gang responsible for collecting card information, trading the information and transferring money from the compromised accounts.
According to the CCTV report, the information collectors would send bank card users text messages with links to phishing sites, would set up free Wi-Fi signals, or would use converted point-of-sale (POS) machines to hack or steal users' information.
Those who illegally transferred victims' money to buyers would infect victims' cell phones with viruses or disrupt their cell phones' signals in order to intercept the victims' verification codes, which are sent by bank companies to perform operations such as money transfers or password changes, the CCTV investigation found. Those who completed the illegal transfers could receive commission of 30 to 50 percent.
Pei Zhiyong, an anti-fraud expert at Qihoo 360 Technology Company, told CCTV that the company could detect 5,000 to 8,000 phishing sites every day that could receive a total of over 100 million clicks in half a day.
