Credit card fraud has always been a problem for digital payments. It has become increasingly easy for criminals to obtain credit card information, either by keylogging user information or by hacking online retailers. It now appears Russian hackers have put together a compendium of sorts which allows anyone to abuse stolen credit card information with relative ease. Making card fraud easier for Russian hackers is the last thing the world needs.
Carding is a Serious Problem
It is quite remarkable to see how online crime has evolved over the past few years. Credit card fraud has always been a big problem. It appears this situation only gets worse as time goes by. The number of credit cards stolen from online retailers or through other cyber attacks has risen almost every single year. Putting a stop to the abuse of stolen card information continues to be a very steep uphill battle.
When security researchers stumbled across a six-week online course teaching Russian hackers how to card goods and services using stolen credit card information, things took a turn for the worse. This course is open to anyone as long as they speak Russian well enough to understand its guidelines. An online fraud and carding course is not something to be taken lightly, and it poses a significant security risk to credit card holders worldwide.
This particular online course is called WWH and costs participants about US$760, payable in either Bitcoin or WebMoney. WebMoney essentially supports Bitcoin as well, giving cryptocurrency enthusiasts two separate ways to pay for this course with Bitcoin. There is an extra $200 fee for all of the course materials required to successfully complete this “educative program.”
Over the course of six weeks, the WWH course touches upon twenty different topics, all of which pertain to credit card fraud. There is a strong focus on how one can find vulnerable shops for carding purposes, as well as how to abuse PayPal, E-Gifts, dropshipping, and much more. The final session explores carding on eBay, which has become somewhat of a carder’s heaven in recent years. Credit cards are an integral part of eBay and PayPal, making them prone targets to carding attempts.
This online course is about much more than just reading PDFs containing tips and tricks. Students will interact with five different expert instructors through live webinars. It is unclear how these webinars take place. This WWH course is on par with regular university courses, as it oozes professionalism and the intent to share knowledge. The “teachers” claim they will continue to update course materials on a regular basis.
Courses like these are designed to take carding to a whole new level. Not every cyber criminal is cut out for hacking or malware distribution. Credit card fraud and carding are accessible to anyone and everyone, especially now that we have a dedicated course in place to teach the basics. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect this course has on online payment fraud over the next few years. The total amount of financial damages will probably continue to rise.
