Bank details sold for £5 on cyber-crime 'supermarkets'

Published on Tuesday 8 April 2008 10:10

BRITISH bank account details are being sold online in cyber-crime "supermarkets" for as little as £5, according to a web security firm's report into online crime.

Criminals are also targeting social networking sites instead of online banking, according to investigators, because their users are less careful.

The report from Symantec said EU identities were sold for more than American ones because they can be used across the EU.

And UK bank account details were the most advertised items on black-market forums used to trade stolen information.

According to the company's latest twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report the most frequently targeted accounts belonged to high-value businesses, as the details could be sold for more than those of accounts with lower balances belonging to consumers.

But the report also found there has been an increase in sophisticated and personalised attacks on consumers.

In the final half of 2007, the security firm saw 50 credit card numbers for sale at 20 (0.40 each), and 500 credit card numbers for 100 (0.20 each).

The data is most often sold via instant-message groups or Web forums that are live for only a few days.