Hopefully you haven’t had the displeasure of dealing with stolen credit card information, but the sad fact is that many of us have. Whether it was through a personal hack that left your financial information vulnerable or through a massive bank or credit card company breach, you are still left with the same outcome: less money and the unnerving sensation of invasion of privacy.
You probably spend so much time getting your bearings back in order that you don’t even think about what your stolen information is being used for. Well, as it turns out, you are not missing out on much. Most credit card hackers use one of several methods…
Cash-Out Method
The most common method used by criminals when stealing CC information is the cash-out method. For example, before gambling websites and pay-safe card websites started requiring ID verification, criminals would use the stolen CC information to purchase pay-safe cards or add money to their wallets on gambling websites. After doing that, they would transfer the money to a service like Bitcoin where they would then transfer the Bitcoin to a bank account or a service like PayPal.
Online Services Method
Another method for criminals that don’t want to deal with complex cash-out methods involves purchasing online services like games from online gaming platforms, TV subscriptions like Hulu and Netflix, or adult website memberships. This method is a gamble on its own however, as the accounts will most likely get banned when the credit card is reported missing/stolen.
Bitcoin Method
For some criminals, they end the cash-out method early by leaving the stolen CC information as currency in their Bitcoin wallet. With the constantly rising cryptocurrency market – especially Bitcoins – it’s no surprise that individuals and criminals alike are investing in the digital currency.
Of course, then you’ve also got the idiots that go on spending sprees with stolen CC information. To make matters worse (or better, depending on who you ask), these idiots will also get the merchandise sent directly to their home; resulting in an easy investigation for authorities.