A Sri Lankan Arrested For Credit Card Fraud Sold On Darknet

 

Three young men, including a Sri Lankan, have been arrested by the police for possessing around 144 fake credit cards. The Central Crime Branch police identified them as Nawaz Sherrief (22), Nadeem Sherrief (30), and Divya.

Divyan is from Sri Lanka and the other two are from Kanaka Nagar and HBR Layout respectively.

Credit cards are sold in large quantities on the Darknet marketplace, and scammers purchase them to hack their targets. They are suspected to have obtained the cards from the USA, Japan, Britain, and other countries through the Darknet market. They use the card details to make fake credit cards to purchase things online.

Different hacker group set up platforms on the Darknet to promote and sell their credit cards to interested buyers. In 2016, it was observed that $400 million worth of financial data was in possession of a single Darknet website, set up by a single group of hackers.

The FireEye’s director of Threatscape Cybercrime, John Miller said a year ago upon research that, a small shop might sell thousands of pieces card data, and large shops might sell millions of cards associated with just a breach.

Divyan, the Sri Lankan man is the main suspect, and it was reported that he came to India some time ago. The Police officer gave a comprehensive explanation on the news surrounding the arrest: “The main accused, Divyan, had come to India illegally about a decade ago and was staying in Chennai. He is also wanted by the Chennai police.”

This is not the first news of foreigners in India being arrested on criminal activities linked to the Darknet. A gang of foreign students was some few weeks ago arrested for distributing illegal drugs on the Darknet.

The three arrested suspects are reported to have attempted to cheat on an electronic shop owner. The police officer said: “The three were caught after they tried to cheat the owner of Vishnu Priya International, an electronics store in Doddakallasandra. The gang had bought three LeD TVs on June 21 for a price of Rs 1.10 lakh using the fake credit cards. As the money was not credited to the owner’s account, he had filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police on Friday.”

India police are aware of the credit card fraud that occurs on the Darknet among Indians. A special force in India recently uncovered a credit card fraud group. The police even reported that the group used stolen credit card numbers to purchase items on the internet, just as the three arrested suspects.

The Special Task Force after the investigation said that a group of people created a network of crime on the Darknet. A report on the investigation of the Task Force states that: “Security agencies claim that international customers’ credit card details are available on the Darknet and some open forums, which are leaked by international hackers by compromising card number, CVV and expiry date.”

The report has also confirmed that the three suspects obtained the credit card information from the Darknet marketplace. The online marketplace offer varieties of technologies for any kind of frauding activities. The arrested trio took advantage of the purchase an empty magnetic card swipe cards. They have a software that they use together with the empty magnetic swipe to update the stolen credit cards.

This has been the method of several credit card fraudsters, to steal, and sell the cards on the online platforms. Due to the loss incurred by victims, this has been a national interest to fight against cyber theft.

The police officer, in his statement to the reporters, continued that: “They were getting their swiping card machines from agents in Haryana, Mumbai, Puducherry and other parts of the country and were paying a commission to the agents. Nadeem is wanted by Cottonpet, Upparpet and by the Mumbai police for similar offenses. The CCB police suspect that there are more people involved in the racket.”

Credit card thieves usually operate from cities, and in markets that give them chance to promote their services on social networks. The cards are mostly stolen from some banks in the USA. Individuals and organizations should, therefore, be cautious of the kind of links they click on. Individuals should also make their pin codes and CVV number more confidential, as much as possible.