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• Nov 10, 2006 11:18 pm US/Eastern
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  Chat Rooms Take ID Theft To A Whole New Level

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Chat Rooms Take ID Theft To A Whole New Level

MIAMI (CBS4) ― You better triple check your credit card and bank account statements, because a global underground network is poised to steal your money in what security experts are saying is like a den of id thieves.

There's a dangerous new underground operation on the internet. They are secret chat rooms and message boards where numbers are the hot commodity: social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank accounts and even pin numbers.

"It is up for sale in cyberspace right this very minute," said expert Dan Clements.

And while it's nearly impossible for the average person to locate these sites, computer savvy identity thieves have no trouble finding them. Clements is on a mission to warn banks and consumers. He is with a company called Card Cops, which has infiltrated hundreds of these dens to show us how big the problem is.

"We see 426 hackers are in this room right this very minute," said Clements as he showed CBS4's Michele Gillen a computer screen.

One hacker, who uses the screen name "Tiger" sells something called a 'full'. It's a complete profile on a person, including name, credit card number, date of birth, and even the person's pin number. A thief could easily make charges, open a new credit card and even wipe out the victim's bank account. While costly for the victims, the information comes cheap.

A credit card number sells for as little as $10 and it comes with a pin.

"If you have access to the online bank account, they will sell it for anywhere from two percent to ten percent of the amount of money that's in your debit account," said Clements.

While scanning the sites, we came across Scott Holanda's personal information. His address, Social Security number, and even his mother's maiden name were available. We tracked Holanda down to warn him.

"I was very surprised when I was notified," said Holanda.

Holanda believes the thieves got his information when he answered an email that looked real but turned out to be a scam.

"It indicated that I was being charged for a purchase and if the purchase was not accurate, to return the email with my personal information," he said.

That one small misstep has forced Holanda to clean up a big mess. By the time we got to him, his credit card had already been fraudulently used.

"It was cancelled and a new card and number were issued," he told us.

So how can you keep your personal information off the online underground?

-Never answer an email asking for personal information and shred all financial paperwork.
-For extra protection, ID Theft Expert Todd Davis says you should set up a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. So you're notified if anyone tries to open an account in your name.

"Each person has to take their steps to protect themselves or we're going to lose this war," said Davis.

Law enforcement says a study of code words used in the chat rooms suggests these crooks are based overseas, especially in Indonesia and Ukraine. It makes many police jurisdictions reluctant to even take a police report on this type of theft.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)