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    How to be a successful online fraudster

Ever wanted to know how easy it is to be an identity thief and earn a fortune? IT PRO reveals all…

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 26 Nov 2008 at 16:27

Only about ten per cent of you will have the knowledge or be willing to learn to do this. Many of you might not want to bother with kits, and hire somebody to infect others ‘as a service’.

This is probably the best way to go if you’re just starting out, because rather than dealing with kits and installation you can get it done as a service, with somebody else sending out the trojan for you.

Buy a package which contains the latest version of the trojan, already installed in bulletproof hosting, it will be live for years. It will be updated with all the latest anti anti-virus patches as well as have a command control centre.

Subscribe, and it will also be hooked into an infection service where you sit back and relax while you watch computers being infected and credentials being collected. Within a few minutes after being supplied with a username and password, you’ll be able to carry out your attack.

It’s ‘Fraud as a Service’ at its best. In fact it’s now it’s possible to cut out the harvesting fraudster and do it all yourself. Prices all available on the internet...

Four - Communicating and making your reputation

Once you’ve decided on your career path and understood the technology, the next step is to build your reputation in the underground community as a fraudster with a nickname.

This is necessary because you’ll need to make people trust you and believe that you will be able to do a good job in harvesting or cashing out, rather than messing up or – god forbid – be law enforcement in disguise.

There are different types of communication channels which you can use, such as an IRC channel. Usually these places will be like marketplaces where you will be able to see what your fellow fraudsters are doing, as well as communicate with them.

Here you are free to haggle as well as wheel and deal, and whether you are a cash-out or harvesting fraudster, you’re sure here to make arrangements to suit you exactly.

It’s even possible to talk with your fellow fraudsters about the banks which are easier to commit fraud against and ask for pointers about how to perform successful illegal money transfers.

Fraud discussion forums are different in that they are less of a free for all and a place to advertise what you can offer. You can communicate and let others know what you are interested in such as services, partners, what you are selling, and what kind of tools you are looking for.

If you are a harvesting fraudster and working with tools such as trojans and malware, fraud forums will have reviews on different products, so you can be up to date with the latest technology, features and what you can buy on the black market.

To make your reputation you could get other fraudsters to test your wares, rate you and rank you, just like eBay's e-commerce system. If you get good remarks, you’ll be able to get a better reputation which will allow you to make better deals. It’s even possible to get other fraudsters to vouch for you.

This is important – if you don’t build your reputation, others won’t do business with you...

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