The crimes of Aleksei Burkov and behind the screens of the stolen credit cards

We had read that credit card data, personal information and social security numbers are being stolen post cyberattacks. Attackers employ phishing, social engineering or other hacking methodology to extract the targeted data. For example, many US citizens lost their credit card details post Equifax data breach.

However, we aren’t aware how exactly these credit card details are made use of post breaches. In this article, we’ll understand how these details are sold by the hackers in the dark web and how effectively they do it using the case of Aleksei Burkov.

Who is Aleksei Burkov?

Aleksei Burkov is a Russian hacker, who was arrested in Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport in 2015 after the Russian proposal to exchange Burkov for Naama Issacha, (Israeli-American drug smuggler) failed. He now pleads guilty in the United States before Senior U.S. District Judge T.S.Ellis III, for multiple criminal charges like phishing, employing banking Trojans, implanting malicious content into cash registers, leaking databases, and hacking into financial accounts of individuals and involving in $20 million credit card fraud.

How did he sell the credit cards?

Burkov created two illegal websites, Cardplanet marketplace and Cybercrime forum. Cardplanet marketplace hosted the details of the stolen credit cards, approximately 150,000 payment details which was stolen between 2009-13. The buyers were also provided a paid service to check whether the stolen credit card details are still valid, he sold each of those cards from $2.50 t0 $10 based on the country, card type and other details.

 He was also running this invite-only cybercrime forum where the participants were chosen only if two other members vouched for them and an insurance fee of $5000 to keep the forum secured from the law enforcement.

Crimes of Burkov

He is now charged for fraudulent activities, including unauthorized device access, computer intrusion, data theft, wire fraud, money laundering, phishing, spear phishing, and sophisticated attacks. He is now facing a prison sentence for 15 years and will be scheduled on May 8, 2020.

Dark web is full of criminal and fraudulent activities, with hackers like Burkov the web gets further more elevated. Cyber awareness needs to be cultivated in every individual to reduce the chances of becoming victims to cyberattacks.