Fergie's Tech Blog

Crime Still Pays For ID Thieves - Just a Bit Less Than Before

Taylor Buley writes on Forbes.com:

Your personal identity isn't worth quite as much as it used to be--at least to thieves willing to swipe it.

According to experts who monitor such markets, the value of stolen credit card data may range from $3 to as little as 40 cents. That's down tenfold from a decade ago--even though the cost to an individual who has a credit card stolen can soar into the hundreds of dollars.

The black market for personal data is even less transparent the market for derivatives and other unregulated financial instruments, but it works like any other market: When the supply of goods is plentiful, prices start to sink.

And in spite of authorities' efforts to take down the markets that serve as clearing houses for other people's financial data, the black market in personal identity is flush with product.

posted by Fergie @ 10/27/2008 02:50:00 PM