Demand for bank cards has grown on the darknet

[Man]

Russian cybercriminals are facing a shortage of bank cards issued to mules. This was stated in an interview with Izvestia by retired Interior Ministry colonel and expert on international organized crime Sergei Pelikh.

“The scheme with other people’s cards was tested by cryptocurrency traders 10 years ago. Later, drug dealers began using crypto and fake cards. But at that time, it was possible to withdraw funds anonymously in other ways. Today, the state has significantly tightened the screws in the area of transaction control. Demand for plastic is growing from all sides,” Pelikh said.

His opinion was confirmed by Maxim Gorbunov, an analyst at the marketing strategy agency “MAX”, who emphasized, however, that most of the cards issued to mules are used by cryptocurrency exchangers. According to him, transactions with digital assets are almost impossible without such plastic. A much smaller, but still quite noticeable volume of such cards is used by online casinos, drug dealers and fraudsters.

“Every month we see more than 500 thousand advertisements for the purchase or sale of cards. But this only speaks of the supply and demand for cards on the market. So far, we have not seen a drop in requests,” Gorbunov stated.

A source of the publication familiar with investigations in the banking sector said that up to 12 cards from different financial institutions can be issued for one drop. For this, he can receive a fairly tangible reward - up to several tens of thousands of rubles.

“As a rule, we are talking about young people, as well as poorly educated, antisocial citizens, foreigners. Some do not think about the consequences that may await them after registering SIM cards and banking instruments in their name,” the Izvestia source said.