Cybersecurity firm Advanced Intel told BleepingComputer that much of the collected data was obtained through healthcare and hospital data breaches. According to the DOJ, the administrators of the site offered support to their customers and went to great lengths to conceal their identities, using servers in various countries and requiring payment in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The people behind SSNDOB advertised their site’s services in several other darkweb forums frequented by other cybercriminals. The Justice Department, IRS and FBI seized and shut down a popular marketplace used by cybercriminals to buy stolen Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal information.
The SSNDOB Shutdown Is A Win Against Digital Fraud
It holds considerable value on the Dark Web and black markets, where it can be bought and sold for illegal activities. Lastly, it’s important to note that law enforcement agencies are actively working to combat dark web activities. Increased collaboration among international agencies and advancements in digital forensics have led to the successful identification and prosecution of individuals involved in illegal transactions on the Dark Web. Engaging in such activities puts you at risk of being caught and facing severe legal consequences. The SSNDOB Marketplace has listed the personal information for approximately 24 million individuals in the United States, generating more than $19 million USD in sales revenue.
SSNDOB Marketplace Administrator Who Sold Millions Of Social Security Numbers Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison
The Dark Web also serves as a platform for political activists, whistleblowers, and journalists to communicate anonymously and share sensitive information without fear of reprisal. However, the anonymity provided by the Dark Web also attracts criminal elements who exploit its features for malicious purposes. Unlike the surface web, which is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, the Dark Web operates on a hidden network of servers and websites. This unique addressing system ensures that the servers hosting these websites maintain a significant level of anonymity. Federal law enforcement agencies say they shut down a group of websites that made over $19 million selling Social Security numbers and other personal data. QuickLocate LLC is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration or any other U.S.
Where Can I Get An Official SSN Verification?
Criminals involved in illegal activities often seek to distance themselves from their true identities to evade law enforcement or escape legal troubles. By acquiring a stolen or fake SSN, they can create new personas and operate under the radar, making it difficult for authorities to trace their activities back to them. The international operation to dismantle and seize this infrastructure is the result of close cooperation with law enforcement authorities in Cyprus and Latvia. On June 7, 2022, seizure orders were executed against the domain names of the SSNDOB Marketplace (ssndob.ws, ssndob.vip, ssndob.club, and blackjob.biz), effectively ceasing the website’s operation.
The administrators of the sites ran servers in different countries to protect their anonymity and avoid the law, and would make their customers purchase the information through digital payment methods such as bitcoin, the DOJ said. No mention was made in the statement of whether the sites’ operators were apprehended in the operation. SSNDOB, an online marketplace that sold the names, social security numbers, and dates of birth of approximately 24 million US people, has been taken offline following an international law enforcement operation.
Catch Fraud
Users were able to browse available PII by country and search for specific names or other characteristics. PII sold on SSNDOB included email addresses, passwords, credit card numbers, and in the case of many American victims, social security numbers. Cybercriminals who purchased this information could use it to conduct phishing attacks and blackmail scam campaigns, as well as to create accounts on social media and financial services under assumed identities. “Identity theft can have a devastating impact on a victim’s long-term emotional and financial health. Taking down the SSNDOB website disrupted ID theft criminals and helped millions of Americans whose personal information was compromised,” said Darrell Waldon, the special agent in charge of the IRS’ criminal investigation field office in Washington, D.C. While these payment methods offer varying degrees of anonymity and security, it is crucial to understand that engaging in illegal activities on the Dark Web is highly risky.
An online marketplace that listed more than 20 million Social Security numbers for sale and made $19 million in revenue has been taken down by US authorities, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. These seizures demonstrate the FBI’s strong working relationship with our international partners in disrupting malicious cyber activity Dismantling illicit marketplaces that threaten the privacy and security of the American public is a priority of the FBI. Visitors to any of ssndob.ws, ssndob.vip, ssndob.club and blackjob.biz will no longer end up where they were probably expecting.
Information Menu
- The SSNDOB administrators created advertisements on darkweb criminal forums for the Marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts.
- There are also cases where individuals purchase SSNs to access government benefits fraudulently.
- Perhaps most interesting of all though is the activity we see between SSNDOB and Joker’s Stash, a large darknet market focused on stolen credit card information and other PII that shut down in January 2021.
- Fullz are often used for identity theft, account takeovers, loan fraud, or other financial scams.
Level up your verification efforts with the SSA’s authoritative source of SSN database of record. By combining these proactive fraud prevention strategies, organizations fortify their defences against fullz-related fraud and ensure stronger consumer protection. The company added that SSNDOB’s Bitcoin payment processing system has been active since 2015, and received nearly $22 million of Bitcoin over 100,000 transactions.
Search Results For:
Unfortunately, the DOJ hasn’t arrested the suspected operators of the SSNDOB Market, but, with the help of law enforcement partners in Latvia and Cyprus, it did get a court warrant allowing it to take over the server names used by the crooked data brokers. Nevertheless, their meanings are widely known throughout the world, not least because of their widespread use in reports and discussions about identity theft and cybercrime. The U.S. investigation was led by CI Cyber Crimes Unit and the FBI – Tampa Division, with assistance from the CI Tampa Field Office. Substantial assistance was also provided by the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI’s Legal Attaché Offices responsible for Latvia and Cyprus, the Latvian Police, and the Cypriot authorities. The U.S. investigation was led by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Cyber Crimes Unit and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Tampa Division, with assistance from the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Tampa Field Office.
Why Is Venmo Asking For My SSN? Verification Explained
The SSNDOB administrators created advertisements on darkweb criminal forums for the marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts. According to court records, Chychasov and other Marketplace administrators advertised on dark web criminal forums for the Marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts. The administrators also employed various techniques to protect their anonymity and to thwart detection of their activities, including strategically maintaining servers in various countries, and requiring buyers to use digital payment methods. The SSNDOB Marketplace listed for sale the personal information for millions of individuals in the United States, generating more than $19 million USD in sales revenue. According to court records, Chychasov and other Marketplace administrators advertised on dark web criminal forums for the Marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts. The SSNDOB administrators created advertisements on darkweb criminal forums for the Marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts.
A verification will not help you find someone with a social security number nor do they provide you with any other background check information. There is also no way to perform a social security lookup (i.e. to enter a name and get a social security number back). US Attorney Roger Handberg and agents from the FBI and the IRS criminal investigation office took the network down through an international operation conducted alongside authorities from Cyprus and Latvia, per the statement. For years, the SSNDOB Marketplace sold personal information of people in the US — including names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers — and would advertise its services on dark web forums, the DOJ said in a statement. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis said that in addition to Social Security numbers, the site also carried email addresses, passwords and credit card numbers.
We offer an extensive search on the name, alias, and address history of an individual which includes a social security number validation. This search establishes an investigative starting point for a complete background check, including the determining of proper jurisdictions and counties to search when performing felony and misdemeanor criminal searches. “According to the few AdvIntel breach investigations, the criminals behind the shop specifically leveraged healthcare and hospital breach databases to source the supply of personal information for the fraudsters.”
One of the significant risks of buying an SSN on the Dark Web is that you are engaging in illegal activity. Purchasing stolen or fake SSNs is a crime, and participating in this illicit trade can result in serious legal repercussions. Law enforcement agencies actively monitor Dark Web activities, and individuals involved in buying or selling SSNs can face criminal charges, including identity theft, fraud, and conspiracy. Cybercriminals can exploit this personal information for fraudulent activities, such as identity theft, credit card fraud, or opening false accounts. This creates a demand for SSNs on the Dark Web among individuals seeking to engage in illegal activities anonymously. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more.
