Identity theft and credit card fraud are so damn common these days that it's tempting to treat it like a bureaucratic hiccup dealt with by phone calls and form filling rather than associate it with actual criminals taking your money and disrupting your life. However, the scale of the global criminal network beavering away on diddling you of your earnings and credit ratings in this tech savvy, hands-off style is evident in the scuppering of an international fraudsters' forum by by the Serious Organised Crime Agency in partnership with the FBI.
An invitation only website described as a "one-stop shop for the online criminal" by police and brilliantly named "Darkmarket", it had around 2,000 registered users trading credit card data for as little as a quid a throw. This sort of 'virtual' theft is more sanitised than street corner drug dealing or clobbering old ladies over the head for their pensions but it's estimated millions were defrauded over its 3 year lifespan and over 60 people have been arrested. Check out the video of a London raid over on the BBC.
