Dark Web
The Dark Web, What is it?
The entirety of the web that is not accessible by search engines. Regular browsers, like Google and Bing, search the so-called “surface web", defined by public links, and the search stops there. The "Deep Web" and "Dark Web" are more in-depth, allow for privacy, and serve different purposes. When discussing them, it is important to remember their distinctions, as there are many.
The "deep" portion of the web is just like it sounds — below the surface and not completely dark. For instance, online banking pages, legal and government documents, or scientific reports have no reason to be indexed. Personal emails and secure information, like bank statements, can also not be searched.
The dark web, however, represents a sliver of the deep web. While many of its websites are generally harmless, it is often associated with illegal activities, and this can lead to serious consequences. Like the deep web, this portion of the web is unindexed. However, the websites are also encrypted, and this level of anonymity is why it is often dedicated to criminal activities. These sites are hosted on special domains, and you need special software to access them, such as the Freenet or TOR browser.
The Dark Web's Risk to Your Business
A nearly infinite supply of stolen payment cards and identities can be acquired on the dark web. The cost of an identity can range from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars, depending on the detail. Many sellers offer guarantees as to the data’s validity and will provide replacement identities if out of date or inaccurate. Escrow services are available for larger purchases and fraud-as-a-service, using local proxy servers, can further improve the odds of illicit transactions getting past anti-fraud systems.
Monitoring programs can also be customized within certain bounds to address gift card and digital product theft, the sale of credentials and customer data by insiders, and other specific merchant challenges.
Learn More & Protect Your Business
To learn more, visit the Dark Web Monitoring page on our website, and contact us today to talk with our experts and receive a free demo.
Day of the Jackal Fraud
What is Day of the Jackal Fraud?
Day of the Jackal Fraud is an identity fraud technique in which the birth certificate of a dead child is used to obtain a passport or some other certified identity document. This kind of fraud gets its name from the book which has the same name/title, written by Fredrick Forsyth. Day of the Jackal Fraud dwindled after the UK cracked down on the crime in the mid to late 2000s.
Day of the Jackal by Fredrick Forsyth vs. Day of the Jackal Fraud
The book centers around a professional assassin contracted by a French paramilitary organization conspiring against Charles de Gaulle, the president of France. The assassin is unique in that his true identity is always unknown, codenamed “The Jackal,” who acquires a legitimate British passport using the name of a deceased man. The Jackal specifically searches graveyards to find the headstone of a child who, if he had not died, would be roughly the same age as him. Then, he buys a copy of that child’s birth certificate and applies for a passport, now possessing a new identity to carry out his mission.
The recognized crime “day of the jackal fraud” operates in the same manner as The Jackal’s instance of identity fraud. Fraudsters apply for a passport under a false name, usually someone deceased and one without much of a history. Once they have that passport, they effectively have a new identity with which they cannot be tracked.
How Prevalent Is It?
In 2003, BBC reported that around 1,500 possibly fraudulent passports were being granted in the UK each year, although the actual number may be higher. In any case, identity fraud including Day of the Jackal fraud cost the government 1.3B GBP per year around 2003, until records transitioned to a computer database that could more easily flag names of the deceased being used for passport identity fraud by cross-referencing names with the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In 2007, the United Kingdom Identity and Passport Service (IPS) uncovered about 1,200 cases of passport applications using identities of deceased people, and stopped 700 new fraudulent applications, virtually ruling out this type of fraud with “Operation Wisdom”, launched in 2004. Since 2007, there are only rare cases of day of the jackal fraud attempts - it is now virtually insignificant in the UK, although other countries that lack record digitization or automated security may still face this problem today.
Why Is This Important?
Day of the Jackal Fraud is a form of identity fraud and application fraud - identity fraud still targets businesses, governments, and consumers today, at alarming rates as the methods of constructing a false identity have evolved. Although government agencies are more likely to stop identity fraud with their access to public identity information, businesses and their consumers could still be at risk from application and synthetic/false identity fraud.
Learn more:
- Definition - False Identity Fraud
- Blog - What is Synthetic Identity Fraud?
- Blog - Synthetic Identity Fraud is Proving to Be Challenging and Stealthy
- Blog - Top 7 Steps for Preventing Loan Application Fraud
Contact Fraud.net for recommendations for fighting application and identity fraud and a free demo of our products.
Deep Web
The Deep Web, What is it?
The entirety of the web that is not accessible by search engines. Regular browsers, like Google and Bing, search the so-called “surface web", defined by public links, and the search stops there. The "Deep Web" and "Dark Web" are more in-depth, allow for privacy, and serve different purposes. When discussing them, it is important to remember their distinctions, as there are many.
The "deep" portion of the web is just like it sounds — below the surface and not completely dark. For instance, online banking pages, legal and government documents, or scientific reports have no reason to be indexed. Personal emails and secure information, like bank statements, can also not be searched.
The dark web represents a sliver of the deep web, and while many of its websites are generally harmless, it is often associated with illegal activities, only accessible via the Tor browser, and such sites can lead to serious consequences.
The Dark Web's Risk to Your Business
A nearly infinite supply of stolen payment cards and identities can be acquired on the dark web. The cost of an identity can range from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars, depending on the detail. Many sellers offer guarantees as to the data’s validity and will provide replacement identities if out of date or inaccurate. Escrow services are available for larger purchases and fraud-as-a-service, using local proxy servers, can further improve the odds of illicit transactions getting past anti-fraud systems.
Monitoring programs can also be customized within certain bounds to address gift card and digital product theft, the sale of credentials and customer data by insiders, and other specific merchant challenges.
Learn More, and Protect Your Business
To learn more, visit the Dark Web Monitoring page on our website, and contact us today to speak with a Fraud Prevention Specialist.
Drop Address
"Drop Address" - What is it?
A "drop address" is the address where fraudsters send goods purchased illegally (for instance with a stolen card).
While having a secondary address or P.O. box is entirely legal, the distinction for "drop addresses" falls under the purpose of the address, and the means by which the goods shipped there were purchased.
This kind of scheme is often well planned and executed. Some will go as far as making an abandoned house look lived in. Examples of this could be mowing the lawn, plugging in electricity generator to make the property seem lived in.
Accomplices in drop address scams are often unaware they are helping fraudsters. They are often recruited through online job offers. The fraudster pretends to be in a different country, and offers to pay the hired person to forward them the stolen goods.
Legal Concerns
Legally, this kind of fraud often falls under the classification of "access device fraud", which is a serious sentence due to the severe risks it can pose to other citizens
Under New York law, for example, an access device can be a card, plate, account number, or any other means of account access. Essentially, information that can be used to obtain money, goods, or services or initiate a transfer of funds. In New York State, it is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by 1 year in prison and/or a fine of more than $1,000.
Criminal Use of an access device in the first degree offers worse consequences. It applies when a person knowingly uses an access device, without the owner’s consent. The consequences surmount when the fraudster uses this device to unlawfully obtain telecommunications services with a value more than one thousand dollars. This is considered a Class E felony that can result in up to 4 years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.
We've provided a brief breakdown below.
Stop Fraud, Not Customers
Despite the risks, this occurs more frequently than you might think.
Machine learning, anomaly detection, geolocation and behavioral analyses can all be combined to detect high-risk sessions on your site and prevent most fraudulent logins. Banks, crypto exchanges and other organizations with fiduciary duties are especially vulnerable, but also have the opportunity to set themselves apart as a high-trust partner with their consumers.
Contact Fraud.net for a free a demo of our anti-fraud prevention system. Our system also includes extensive address and identity verification, to combat drop addresses and access device fraud.