Dark Web's Largest Marketplace for Stolen Credit Cards Shuts Down

Somya Bansal

January 17, 2022

UniCC is shuttering its operations after earning $358 million in purchases since 2013 using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and Dash. It's the most prominent dark web marketplace for stolen credit and debit cards. The team gave its users ten days to spend their balances and warned them to "not follow any fakes tied to our comeback." These platforms function as an underground marketplace wherein credit card details stolen from online retailers, banks, and payments companies by injecting malicious skimmers are trafficked in exchange for cryptocurrency. Criminal actors then use the cards to purchase high-value items or gift cards. This is known as carding, also used to help launder and cash out cryptocurrency obtained through other types of cybercrime. This termination comes exactly a year after the previous market leader Joker's Stash's retirement after facilitating the sale of nearly $400 million in stolen cards. This worked to UniCC's benefit, quickly catching up with a 30% market share. Other criminal marketplaces have voluntarily closed shop over the past year, including White House Market, Cannazon, Torrez, and Monopoly Market. The illicit market for stolen credit card data has become so lucrative that sales have surpassed 1.4 billion just in Bitcoin, paving the way for new entrants to the space and swiftly filling the vacuum left by defunct criminal entities in a manner that mirrors the ever-evolving ransomware landscape, All World Cards being the most notable. The researchers said, "The wave of recent departures has potentially been a trigger for UniCC's retirement, as illicit actors see an opportunity in the turbulence to either run away with users' funds or retire to avoid increased law enforcement attention."

Abridged fromThe Hacker News