Carding: Teen Carders Stealing From the Rich

[Jollier]

Carder:
You can buy as many iPhones as you want, these guys have a ton of money anyway.

Interviewer:
I’m meeting a young guy today who’s into carding, and for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s when you steal someone’s credit card information online and use that money to buy whatever you want.

Carder:
I have access to all the rides to the coolest places, Netflix, Spotify, etc., and I know that they’re going to get all the money back.

Interviewer:
Although bank fraud has been around for years, it's a brand new trend that kids seem to be learning about in school. We interviewed him in our office, not at his home, because we wanted his mom to know about it. Oh my god! How many cars are there? About a hundred?

Carder:
I have 66 cars on my Deliveroo account.

Interviewer:
So if one stops working, you add a new one?

Carder:
Yeah, I guess.

Interviewer:
How often do you order food?

Carder:
I stopped ordering because I'm getting fat.

Interviewer:
How do you find these sites because I don't get it?

Carder:
I learned it in school.

Interviewer:
How old were you?

Carder:
14, 15. We felt fucking cool.

Interviewer:
So a lot of kids do this? Do they have regular jobs?

Carder:
Most of them go to school. When I was like 17, my dealer was 14. A little nerd, a hacker for fun. I looked at his crypto account, he had like 100k in crypto at the time, and you don't have anything to go to a regular job with. You get all the information, then you call the bank, pretending to be these people. You ask how much money is in the account, you just turn on your phone without caller ID. You have all their information, so you can answer all their security questions.

Interviewer:
What is that?

Carder:
It's one of the websites. A lot of websites have like a hundred hackers working on them and they just dump everything in one go. All you have is the bank serial number, you have the expiry date, the username, the city they were born in. So basically, you just go to Gucci, Prada, anywhere you want, and you just buy stuff. And then you send it to the post office. You give them, like, £20, never send it to yourself.
We get the postcode, they are very important because you can then see what their financial situation is. For example, you find someone’s postcode in Westminster and their house is worth about £4 million. You are probably not on a very high income. They are unlikely to notice and are unlikely to report it. And of course that fact makes you feel less guilty. Sometimes I pay about £50 for a card. The owners have £10 in their account.
I have lost it all.

Interviewer:
Is it like roulette?

Carder:
When you buy a card, you don’t know whether it is active or not, or whether the person has debt on it. I’ve seen people find cards of footballers, celebrities, it could be anyone.

Interviewer:
Is there anything that makes you think, “Oh no, I’m not going to do that.”

Carder:
Yeah, if they are in my area, I don’t do it. If they’re from my country, I don’t need it. To be honest, people aged 46 can only have £100 to their name.

Interviewer:
Tell me the most extravagant ways you’ve carded.

Carder:
I could do anything, really. I had access to all the trips I wanted to take to the coolest places. My plane tickets were free. I stayed in the most luxurious apartments. I had access to rental cars, jet skis and all the other stuff. Everything I used was free, even my shopping trips.

Interviewer:
Did you stay in five-star hotels?

Carder:
Yeah, the Hilton Anders and all the hotels in the sea. I had one occasion where I got kicked out of one place and I just carded to another.

Interviewer:
When it comes to flights and stuff, of course you have to put in your name and your passport.

Carder:
Yeah, but you have to always remember that you can pay for it for other people. So if you want to get a plane ticket or something, you better go on the day they were bought.

Interviewer:
What's the most expensive place you've eaten at?

Carder:
Okay, I've been to Hakasan and Nobu. You can pay for your food in advance.

Interviewer:
Have you ever taken a girl out on a date like that?

Carder:
Sure, I've taken girls to five-star hotels, breakfasts in bed, stuff like that.

Interviewer:
So they just think you're a really rich person?

Carder:
Sort of.

Interviewer:
Have you ever kept a card for a long time? A card that works really well?

Carder:
Yeah. Lots of them, like Saudi Arabia. Rich dudes don't even notice if they're missing £50 a month, so I could just pay for my Netflix and Spotify. I've had one card that I've been paying for taxis with for two years now. I was having a laugh with my mates and I said, 'I think this dude's dead. You can just go out and buy as many iPhones and MacBooks as you want. I know people who've started clothing businesses, they have websites. I know a dude who works in a jewellery store, he sells roller skates and diamonds.

Interviewer:
People aren't just buying things for themselves, they're building a business out of it.

Carder:
Yeah, I know a dude whose older brother had a truck that he used to transport fridges and wardrobes and beds and stuff.

Interviewer:
So he carded himself into a fridge business? Something like that. Is there any way for consumers to know this over time?

Carder:
How would they know? After all, if you went on Amazon right now, for example, you’d see a brand new MacBook for £800 and you’d never know where it came from.

Interviewer:
Why do you think people do this?

Carder:
Like when you’re young and you don’t have many avenues to make money. If you’re 16, the minimum wage is £6 an hour. Why do they do it? Most people have to feed their families. I know people who’ve done it to literally feed their little brothers. They’re helping their grandparents pay their rent. After all, when your bank calls you and says my money’s been stolen, the bank gives them back everything they lost.

Interviewer:
Does that absolve you of guilt?

Carder:
Well, not really. At the end of the day, banks steal money from people. Why can’t we do the same?

Interviewer:
Do you know what the sentence for this is?

Carder:
Five years, tops. I've never met anyone who's been caught, to be honest. And you're not worried at all? Well, not really. But once you get involved in, like, politics or big business, that's when they really start hounding you. But when you're just doing a little prank, taking from the rich, giving to the poor, you'll be fine.

Interviewer:
If you have a key to a house on the nicest street, you'll have a hard time not going inside. Same thing with carding. These kids teach you how to do it in school and they claim there are no victims. If you get caught, fraud can cost you a hefty prison sentence. So think twice.