According to a report released by Privacy Affairs, a leading online data security company, cybercriminals are selling compromised and verified cryptocurrency accounts on the dark web at increasingly high prices. The report, titled “The Dark Web Price Index,” published on April 24, 2023, shows that prices for verified accounts have risen significantly compared to last year’s index.
According to the 2022 report, hackers spent $260 and $250 for confirmed Kraken and Binance accounts, respectively. However, in 2023, a confirmed Kraken account sold for $1,170, and a verified Binance account is priced at $410. In addition, a verified Crypto.com account costs $300, a verified Coinbase account costs $250, while a verified Bittrex account costs just $30.
Compromised accounts are sought after by hackers because they are used to bypass Know Your Customer (KYC) security measures on popular cryptocurrency exchanges. The report notes that while public interest in cryptocurrency has decreased, the prices of compromised cryptocurrency accounts remain the highest among all compromised internet accounts. This indicates that it is still highly profitable for hackers to breach these accounts.
In addition to cryptocurrency accounts, cybercriminals also sell unlawfully obtained financial account information on the dark web. The report notes that account information for credit cards with up to $5,000 in available credit is being sold for about $110, while login information for online bank accounts with up to $2,000 in available credit is offered for $60.
Miklos Zoltan, a security expert at Privacy Affairs, emphasized the importance of internet users being vigilant with their personal information, as the amounts listed above represent the value of bank information and social media login credentials to those who acquire them.
Meanwhile, DeFi Planet reported that phishing websites promoted on Google had stolen over $4 million from cryptocurrency users worldwide, ScamSniffer, a web3 anti-scam service provider, documented this rise in deceptive ads for phishing websites within Google Ads searches and issued a warning to cryptocurrency users to be cautious when visiting any website that requests their wallet login signatures, as it could result in the compromise of their addresses.
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