Europol's international operation is aimed at combating online skimming.
Europol has joined forces with law enforcement agencies in 17 countries to warn 443 online merchants that their customers ' payment card data has been compromised. As part of a two-month operation led by Greece and supported by Group-IB and Sansec, a crackdown on digital skimming was carried out.
The essence of skimming is that hackers introduce tools or malware into online stores to intercept customer credit card data during online payments. This problem has long affected popular online stores.
Thanks to the work of the Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) and the European Union Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA), affected sites were notified that they were being used for skimming attacks.
Europol notes that such attacks often go unnoticed for a long time. Stolen payment data is usually put up for sale on the darknet. Consumers often do not realize that their data has been compromised until attackers use it for unauthorized operations, and it is difficult to determine when the data leak occurred.
Law enforcement agencies provided technical support to online stores, helping to remove malicious tools and ensure the safety of customers. The operation involved the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Colombia, Spain and the Netherlands.
According to the Recorded Future report, 119 million cards are sold on the darknet, which can lead to losses of $9.4 billion. for card issuers and up to $35 billion. potential refund costs for sellers and buyers in 2023. In 2022, 45.6 million payment card records were compromised due to skimmers.
Total number of card data on sale and their division into online card data
Among the stores where skimmers were introduced in 2023, restaurants (18.5% of the total number of victims), auto parts sellers, clothing stores and others stand out in particular. The US holds the leading position in terms of the number of cards available on the darknet, with more than 50 million. In no other country or region does this number exceed 2.5 million.
It is expected that in 2024, fraudsters will improve their methods, continuing to use both traditional and new methods of card theft. Cards stolen from financial institutions in North America and Europe will continue to hold the leading positions in sales. The report suggests that in 2024, cybercriminals will use sophisticated technical solutions, fine-tuned processes, and social engineering techniques to circumvent fraud detection systems.
Europol has joined forces with law enforcement agencies in 17 countries to warn 443 online merchants that their customers ' payment card data has been compromised. As part of a two-month operation led by Greece and supported by Group-IB and Sansec, a crackdown on digital skimming was carried out.
The essence of skimming is that hackers introduce tools or malware into online stores to intercept customer credit card data during online payments. This problem has long affected popular online stores.
Thanks to the work of the Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) and the European Union Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA), affected sites were notified that they were being used for skimming attacks.
Europol notes that such attacks often go unnoticed for a long time. Stolen payment data is usually put up for sale on the darknet. Consumers often do not realize that their data has been compromised until attackers use it for unauthorized operations, and it is difficult to determine when the data leak occurred.
Law enforcement agencies provided technical support to online stores, helping to remove malicious tools and ensure the safety of customers. The operation involved the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Colombia, Spain and the Netherlands.
According to the Recorded Future report, 119 million cards are sold on the darknet, which can lead to losses of $9.4 billion. for card issuers and up to $35 billion. potential refund costs for sellers and buyers in 2023. In 2022, 45.6 million payment card records were compromised due to skimmers.
Total number of card data on sale and their division into online card data
Among the stores where skimmers were introduced in 2023, restaurants (18.5% of the total number of victims), auto parts sellers, clothing stores and others stand out in particular. The US holds the leading position in terms of the number of cards available on the darknet, with more than 50 million. In no other country or region does this number exceed 2.5 million.
It is expected that in 2024, fraudsters will improve their methods, continuing to use both traditional and new methods of card theft. Cards stolen from financial institutions in North America and Europe will continue to hold the leading positions in sales. The report suggests that in 2024, cybercriminals will use sophisticated technical solutions, fine-tuned processes, and social engineering techniques to circumvent fraud detection systems.
