In this article, the author explores the criminological and psychological characteristics of the personality of a professional carder in modern conditions.
Key words: fraud, carders, carding, cyber fraud, psychology, personality, victim, prevention, information technology, resourcefulness.
In recent years, there has been a tendency to increase the incidence of carding activities (Articles 159–159 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), including those involving the use of information technology (cyber fraud).
In general, the basis of the activity of any person as homo sapiens is a combination of various factors that determine his essence. Thus, a person has two principles: biological and social (the criminal, too, accordingly). A person in the process of life is one way or another formed as a personality. Personality is understood as a set of individual traits, abilities and qualities of a person arising from the characteristics of his body, living conditions, moral guidelines and other determinants. To prevent crimes, it is necessary to study crime in general, the conditions under which crimes were committed, as well as the personality of the criminals themselves. Differentiation of the reasons for committing crimes varies depending on the criteria of differentiation, as well as the methods of scientific knowledge underlying such research. As part of this work, we studied scientific works and statistical indicators of cases of professional carding.
The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics and trends in the commission of these crimes through criminological and psychological analysis of the personality of persons who commit such crimes, as well as to propose possible preventive measures.
Personality is understood as a set of social, psychological and physiological traits that determine behavior. It is important to understand that personality is formed over a long period of time. For example, the personality of a child at the age of 12 is significantly different from the personality he will be 5 years later.
It is necessary to understand the main factors and social institutions that influence the formation of personality: 1) place of residence. For example, a person may live in an unfavorable area (where there is a high crime rate, the romanticization of a criminal lifestyle flourishes, etc.), which will affect the formation of his worldview; 2) upbringing in the family and the personality of the parents. For example, in dysfunctional families, where parents often drink alcohol and lead an immoral lifestyle, the child will absorb exactly those ideas that flourish in such a family; 3) preschool education. We are talking about the environment of the children and the personality of the teachers; 4) school education. We are also talking about the student’s environment and the personality of the teacher; 5) higher and secondary specialized education. It is at this stage that a person determines his range of interests, future profession and like-minded people; 6) professional team at work. Thus, colleagues can negatively influence a person, for example, engage in bullying; 7) other factors and social institutions.
There is a classification of criminals according to socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, etc.), depending on their antisocial value orientations, depending on the health of the criminal (healthy, with psychosomatic abnormalities, insane). In turn, a number of authors, for example, Enikeev M.I., believe that it is necessary to distinguish selfish, violent, selfish-violent and universal groups of crimes [Enikeev M.I., 639 p.].
As part of our research, we note that professional carding, according to Enikeev’s classification, belongs to the group of mercenary crimes.
Based on scientific research and statistical indicators, we have identified the following characteristics of professional carders:
1) most of them do not have a legal source of income, or their income does not allow them to fully satisfy their needs;
2) the proportion of female carders and male carders is approximately the same (about 45 and 55%, respectively) and depends on the specific area of carding;
3) professional swindlers are fairly well-intellectually developed people;
4) most of them have a combination of personality traits such as eloquence, persuasiveness, confidence (or self-confidence), calmness and sociability, and understanding of human psychology.
5) professional carders use neurolinguistic programming (NLP) during conversations with victims. Thus, A. A. Akatova writes that “most of the techniques and methods used in neurolinguistics are aimed at influencing the recipient’s psyche, changing his worldview, beliefs, emotional state” [Akatova A. A., pp. 28–31].
The thinking of carders is also considered as a separate aspect of their personality. Thus, carders find a new niche in the life of society, and then come up with ways to deceive victims. Next, the carders commit carding acts, testing and gradually improving their professional criminal skills. Thus, carders “are constantly improving the methods and techniques of stealing funds” [Makaryan M. T., pp. 251–253]. As a result, the carder becomes a professional in this niche. So, let us note the manifestation of this thesis in practice:
1) The emergence of bank cards - the emergence of carding in the form of bank phishing sites, as well as calls to obtain card data, as well as the emergence of “carding”.
2) The emergence of coronavirus - the creation of “miracle cures” that cure this virus;
3) The emergence of dating sites and portals - the emergence of carders who introduce themselves under other names and receive money from the victim;
4) The appearance and active use of QR codes (for example, menus in a cafe) - placement of carding QR codes; when scanned, the victim transfers personal data or money to the attacker, the so-called “quishing”.
When talking about carding, it is necessary to understand the specifics of victimology. Thus, some social groups are most likely to become victims of professional carders. Thus, A.V. Mayorov and N.E. Eremenko indicate that most often the victims of professional carders are: 1) children, 2) pensioners, 3) married women aged 20–50 years, they are gullible and are not able to think in cold blood [ Mayorov V.A., Eremenko N.E., p. 36–41].
Currently, there are many ways of v: 1) creation of phishing sites, 2) carding mailings in messages in instant messengers and to a person’s personal phone number, 3) carding calls, 4) carding in the field of lending, 5) carding through the sale of “miracle remedies” ", 6) acquaintance on various sites and forums in order to receive money from the victim; 7) carding with QR codes.
So, let's look at specific cases of carding in order to understand how and what personal qualities of the criminal allow him to commit such a crime. So, on 02/17/2023 in the Murmansk region, Ms. **** called the landline phone in apt. ******. A 9-year-old boy answered the phone, and the carder asked if there were adults at home. After making sure that there were no adults nearby, the carders introduced herself as a doctor and told the boy that his mother had been in an accident and therefore needed urgent surgery. The carders then called her accomplice to the phone, who was crying and asking for help. Being in a state of confusion and fear, the child believed that a real doctor and his mother were talking to him on the phone. The carder said that the boy should collect all the money and jewelry in the house, put it in a bag or box, and then give it to the doctor’s assistant. After which the carder found out the exact address of the victim’s place of residence, came and took the box of money, promising to cure his mother in the near future. After which the carder disappeared. Based on this fact, a criminal case was initiated under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. So, first the carders called the number and checked the situation, that is, she made a certain intellectual effort. Realizing that there was a small child at the other end of the phone, the carders gained his trust, beginning to put pressure on the child’s emotions and fragile psyche. Then she asked her accomplice to play along and then took the money. Thus, in this case, such personality traits and skills of the carder as eloquence (including through NPL), self-confidence, resourcefulness, persuasiveness, and understanding of the child’s psychology were revealed.
Another method of carding is the creation of phishing sites (that is, exact copies of a real site, for example, the State Services portal) [Krakovskaya N. R., Gulyaev A. A., pp. 133–138]. The victim, seeing the correspondence of the site name and the external visual similarity of the design with the original site, mistakenly believes that he is on the official site. When the victim goes to such sites, the attackers obtain the victim’s personal data. Also, such sites may provide online payment for certain services, through which carders gain access to the bank cards of their victims. In this case, such characteristics of the carder’s personality as resourcefulness and a high intellectual level appear, since creating a website and disguising it as another site requires certain knowledge in the field of programming and web design.
The next type of carding is dating on various sites and forums in order to receive money from the victim of such carding. For example, fake accounts are created on Tindere. A person creates a profile, posts photos there (selected on the Internet or generated by special programs), comes up with a personal history and range of interests. Then, having received an application for acquaintance, the carder enters into correspondence with the victim. During the conversation, he gains her confidence, and then offers to go to a cafe or a movie, saying that the victim must pay. The carder then sends the victim bank details to use to transfer money. After receiving the money, the victim is blocked. It also happens that the victim gets firmly hooked and believes that the person did not come to the meeting due to illness. In this case, the carder receives money using the same scheme, saying that they can meet later. It is important to note that carders in this area are quite smart and resourceful. So, young men take photographs of their acquaintances and post them on a dating site under the guise of a girl. During personal correspondence, they can record a voice message for the victim, in which the accomplice will pronounce certain words in a female voice. Such carders resourcefully use modern information technologies, for example, programs that generate realistic photographs of people. It is possible to use a special program that changes the voice from male to female, or a program that synthesizes speech based on a text request. Also, carders of this kind have learned to use grammatical structures and features of female communication (phrases, individual words), as well as use various emoticons and other communication tools. For example: “Darling, hi / haha
/ I’m offended... / baby, will you pay for me?” / etc.). In this type of carding, the criminal applies his knowledge of human psychology and uses resourcefulness.
It should be noted that currently there is a tendency to commit professional carding using information technology.
At the same time, one of the tasks of criminology as a science is crime prevention. In this regard, we will highlight measures that, in our opinion, will reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of professional carders:
1) Do not click on dubious links on the Internet;
2) When you receive a message that one of your loved ones is in danger, do not open such a message, but immediately contact the person who is allegedly injured and needs help;
3) Do not transfer any funds to girls and boys whom you meet on the Internet until you meet in person;
4) When you receive a message on VKontakte and other instant messengers from your friends’ accounts, ask them a question, the answer to which only he knows. It is important to note that the information to answer the question should not be contained in your correspondence with this person. If this is not possible, ask him to call via video call or mobile phone to establish the identity of the person with whom you are currently communicating.
5) Timely blocking of carding and suspicious sites by Roskomnadzor;
6) Increasing cyber literacy and financial literacy of the population through the study of specialized literature and holding free lectures. For example, Sberbank PJSC holds such public lectures and conferences in order to increase the cyber literacy of its users and reduce the risk that one of them will become a victim of a professional carder.
Literature:
(c) https://moluch.ru/archive/484/106043/
Key words: fraud, carders, carding, cyber fraud, psychology, personality, victim, prevention, information technology, resourcefulness.
In recent years, there has been a tendency to increase the incidence of carding activities (Articles 159–159 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), including those involving the use of information technology (cyber fraud).
In general, the basis of the activity of any person as homo sapiens is a combination of various factors that determine his essence. Thus, a person has two principles: biological and social (the criminal, too, accordingly). A person in the process of life is one way or another formed as a personality. Personality is understood as a set of individual traits, abilities and qualities of a person arising from the characteristics of his body, living conditions, moral guidelines and other determinants. To prevent crimes, it is necessary to study crime in general, the conditions under which crimes were committed, as well as the personality of the criminals themselves. Differentiation of the reasons for committing crimes varies depending on the criteria of differentiation, as well as the methods of scientific knowledge underlying such research. As part of this work, we studied scientific works and statistical indicators of cases of professional carding.
The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics and trends in the commission of these crimes through criminological and psychological analysis of the personality of persons who commit such crimes, as well as to propose possible preventive measures.
Personality is understood as a set of social, psychological and physiological traits that determine behavior. It is important to understand that personality is formed over a long period of time. For example, the personality of a child at the age of 12 is significantly different from the personality he will be 5 years later.
It is necessary to understand the main factors and social institutions that influence the formation of personality: 1) place of residence. For example, a person may live in an unfavorable area (where there is a high crime rate, the romanticization of a criminal lifestyle flourishes, etc.), which will affect the formation of his worldview; 2) upbringing in the family and the personality of the parents. For example, in dysfunctional families, where parents often drink alcohol and lead an immoral lifestyle, the child will absorb exactly those ideas that flourish in such a family; 3) preschool education. We are talking about the environment of the children and the personality of the teachers; 4) school education. We are also talking about the student’s environment and the personality of the teacher; 5) higher and secondary specialized education. It is at this stage that a person determines his range of interests, future profession and like-minded people; 6) professional team at work. Thus, colleagues can negatively influence a person, for example, engage in bullying; 7) other factors and social institutions.
There is a classification of criminals according to socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, etc.), depending on their antisocial value orientations, depending on the health of the criminal (healthy, with psychosomatic abnormalities, insane). In turn, a number of authors, for example, Enikeev M.I., believe that it is necessary to distinguish selfish, violent, selfish-violent and universal groups of crimes [Enikeev M.I., 639 p.].
As part of our research, we note that professional carding, according to Enikeev’s classification, belongs to the group of mercenary crimes.
Based on scientific research and statistical indicators, we have identified the following characteristics of professional carders:
1) most of them do not have a legal source of income, or their income does not allow them to fully satisfy their needs;
2) the proportion of female carders and male carders is approximately the same (about 45 and 55%, respectively) and depends on the specific area of carding;
3) professional swindlers are fairly well-intellectually developed people;
4) most of them have a combination of personality traits such as eloquence, persuasiveness, confidence (or self-confidence), calmness and sociability, and understanding of human psychology.
5) professional carders use neurolinguistic programming (NLP) during conversations with victims. Thus, A. A. Akatova writes that “most of the techniques and methods used in neurolinguistics are aimed at influencing the recipient’s psyche, changing his worldview, beliefs, emotional state” [Akatova A. A., pp. 28–31].
The thinking of carders is also considered as a separate aspect of their personality. Thus, carders find a new niche in the life of society, and then come up with ways to deceive victims. Next, the carders commit carding acts, testing and gradually improving their professional criminal skills. Thus, carders “are constantly improving the methods and techniques of stealing funds” [Makaryan M. T., pp. 251–253]. As a result, the carder becomes a professional in this niche. So, let us note the manifestation of this thesis in practice:
1) The emergence of bank cards - the emergence of carding in the form of bank phishing sites, as well as calls to obtain card data, as well as the emergence of “carding”.
2) The emergence of coronavirus - the creation of “miracle cures” that cure this virus;
3) The emergence of dating sites and portals - the emergence of carders who introduce themselves under other names and receive money from the victim;
4) The appearance and active use of QR codes (for example, menus in a cafe) - placement of carding QR codes; when scanned, the victim transfers personal data or money to the attacker, the so-called “quishing”.
When talking about carding, it is necessary to understand the specifics of victimology. Thus, some social groups are most likely to become victims of professional carders. Thus, A.V. Mayorov and N.E. Eremenko indicate that most often the victims of professional carders are: 1) children, 2) pensioners, 3) married women aged 20–50 years, they are gullible and are not able to think in cold blood [ Mayorov V.A., Eremenko N.E., p. 36–41].
Currently, there are many ways of v: 1) creation of phishing sites, 2) carding mailings in messages in instant messengers and to a person’s personal phone number, 3) carding calls, 4) carding in the field of lending, 5) carding through the sale of “miracle remedies” ", 6) acquaintance on various sites and forums in order to receive money from the victim; 7) carding with QR codes.
So, let's look at specific cases of carding in order to understand how and what personal qualities of the criminal allow him to commit such a crime. So, on 02/17/2023 in the Murmansk region, Ms. **** called the landline phone in apt. ******. A 9-year-old boy answered the phone, and the carder asked if there were adults at home. After making sure that there were no adults nearby, the carders introduced herself as a doctor and told the boy that his mother had been in an accident and therefore needed urgent surgery. The carders then called her accomplice to the phone, who was crying and asking for help. Being in a state of confusion and fear, the child believed that a real doctor and his mother were talking to him on the phone. The carder said that the boy should collect all the money and jewelry in the house, put it in a bag or box, and then give it to the doctor’s assistant. After which the carder found out the exact address of the victim’s place of residence, came and took the box of money, promising to cure his mother in the near future. After which the carder disappeared. Based on this fact, a criminal case was initiated under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. So, first the carders called the number and checked the situation, that is, she made a certain intellectual effort. Realizing that there was a small child at the other end of the phone, the carders gained his trust, beginning to put pressure on the child’s emotions and fragile psyche. Then she asked her accomplice to play along and then took the money. Thus, in this case, such personality traits and skills of the carder as eloquence (including through NPL), self-confidence, resourcefulness, persuasiveness, and understanding of the child’s psychology were revealed.
Another method of carding is the creation of phishing sites (that is, exact copies of a real site, for example, the State Services portal) [Krakovskaya N. R., Gulyaev A. A., pp. 133–138]. The victim, seeing the correspondence of the site name and the external visual similarity of the design with the original site, mistakenly believes that he is on the official site. When the victim goes to such sites, the attackers obtain the victim’s personal data. Also, such sites may provide online payment for certain services, through which carders gain access to the bank cards of their victims. In this case, such characteristics of the carder’s personality as resourcefulness and a high intellectual level appear, since creating a website and disguising it as another site requires certain knowledge in the field of programming and web design.
The next type of carding is dating on various sites and forums in order to receive money from the victim of such carding. For example, fake accounts are created on Tindere. A person creates a profile, posts photos there (selected on the Internet or generated by special programs), comes up with a personal history and range of interests. Then, having received an application for acquaintance, the carder enters into correspondence with the victim. During the conversation, he gains her confidence, and then offers to go to a cafe or a movie, saying that the victim must pay. The carder then sends the victim bank details to use to transfer money. After receiving the money, the victim is blocked. It also happens that the victim gets firmly hooked and believes that the person did not come to the meeting due to illness. In this case, the carder receives money using the same scheme, saying that they can meet later. It is important to note that carders in this area are quite smart and resourceful. So, young men take photographs of their acquaintances and post them on a dating site under the guise of a girl. During personal correspondence, they can record a voice message for the victim, in which the accomplice will pronounce certain words in a female voice. Such carders resourcefully use modern information technologies, for example, programs that generate realistic photographs of people. It is possible to use a special program that changes the voice from male to female, or a program that synthesizes speech based on a text request. Also, carders of this kind have learned to use grammatical structures and features of female communication (phrases, individual words), as well as use various emoticons and other communication tools. For example: “Darling, hi / haha
/ I’m offended... / baby, will you pay for me?” / etc.). In this type of carding, the criminal applies his knowledge of human psychology and uses resourcefulness.It should be noted that currently there is a tendency to commit professional carding using information technology.
At the same time, one of the tasks of criminology as a science is crime prevention. In this regard, we will highlight measures that, in our opinion, will reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of professional carders:
1) Do not click on dubious links on the Internet;
2) When you receive a message that one of your loved ones is in danger, do not open such a message, but immediately contact the person who is allegedly injured and needs help;
3) Do not transfer any funds to girls and boys whom you meet on the Internet until you meet in person;
4) When you receive a message on VKontakte and other instant messengers from your friends’ accounts, ask them a question, the answer to which only he knows. It is important to note that the information to answer the question should not be contained in your correspondence with this person. If this is not possible, ask him to call via video call or mobile phone to establish the identity of the person with whom you are currently communicating.
5) Timely blocking of carding and suspicious sites by Roskomnadzor;
6) Increasing cyber literacy and financial literacy of the population through the study of specialized literature and holding free lectures. For example, Sberbank PJSC holds such public lectures and conferences in order to increase the cyber literacy of its users and reduce the risk that one of them will become a victim of a professional carder.
Literature:
- Akatova A. A. Theoretical formation of practical experience in neurolinguistic programming // The Scientific Heritage. 2020. No. 54–3. P.28–31.
- Enikeev M.I. Legal psychology. With the basics of general and social psychology: textbook. M.: Infra-M., 2010. 639 p.
- Krakovskaya N. R., Gulyaev A. A. On the issue of cyber fraud // Bulletin of the Udmurt University. Sociology. Political science. International relationships. 2022. No. 1. P.133–138.
- Mayorov A.V., Yaremenko N.E. Victimological aspect of fraud // Victimology. 2019. No. 3 (21). P.36–41.
- Makaryan, M. T. Carding as a way to commit fraud using electronic communications / M. T. Makaryan // Proceedings of young scientists of Altai State University. — 2020. — No. 17. — P. 251–253.
(c) https://moluch.ru/archive/484/106043/
