FYI...

- http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4606745
April 8, 2008 - "Fierce competition among identity thieves has driven the prices for stolen data down to bargain-basement levels, which has forced crooks to adopt mainstream business tactics to lure customers, according to a new report on Internet security threats. Credit card numbers were selling for as little as 40 cents each and access to a bank account was going for $10 (euro6.4) in the second half of 2007, according to the latest twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report* from Symantec Corp. released Tuesday. Symantec detected 711,912 new threats last year, 468 percent more than in 2006, when it found 125,243 -- and almost two-thirds of all 1,122,311 Symantec has cataloged since 2002... during the last six months of the year that Internet fraudsters are adopting mainstream tactics, including hiring teams of hackers to create new viruses and offering volume discounts on stolen data to encourage larger orders. In some cases, stolen credit card numbers were sold in batches of 500 for a total of $200. That is 40 cents each, less than half the price observed during the first half of 2007, when they were down to $1 apiece in batches of 100, according to the report. Full identities -- including a functioning credit card number, Social Security number or equivalent and a person's name, address and date of birth -- are going for as little as $100 for 50, or $2 apiece..."
* http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20080407_01
April 8, 2008