how carding works
carding typically starts with a hacker gaining access to a store s or website s credit card processing system with the hacker obtaining a list of credit or debit cards that were recently used to make purchases hackers might exploit weaknesses in the security software and technology intended to protect credit card accounts they might also procure credit card information by using scanners to copy the coding from the magnetic strips credit card information might also be compromised by accessing the account holder s other personal information such as bank accounts the hacker has already gained entry to targeting the information at its source the hacker then sells the list of credit or debit card numbers to a third party a carder who uses the stolen information to purchase a gift card 2carding forums are websites that teach fraudsters about this illicit trade fraudsters use these sites to buy and sell their illegally gained credit and debit card information 3 they also use them for money laundering 4pins and chips have made it more difficult to use stolen cards in point of sale transactions but card not present sales remain the mainstay of card thieves and are much discussed on carding forums most credit card companies offer cardholders protection from fraudulent charges if a credit or debit card is reported stolen but by the time the cards are canceled the carder has often already made a purchase the gift cards are used to buy high value goods such as cell phones televisions and computers as these goods do not require registration and can be resold later if the carder purchases a gift card from an electronics retailer such as amazon they may use a third party to receive the goods and then ship them to other locations this limits the carder s risk of drawing attention to themselves the carder may also sell the goods on websites offering a degree of anonymity because credit cards are often canceled quickly after being lost a major part of carding involves testing the stolen card information to see if it still works this may involve submitting card not present purchase requests on the internet terminologycarding comes with its own language a couple of terms are discussed below fullz is slang for full information it refers to the information package containing a person s real name address and form of identification the information is used for identity theft and financial fraud the person whose fullz is sold is not a party to the transactions 56a credit card dump occurs when a criminal makes an unauthorized digital copy of a credit card it is performed by physically copying information from the card or hacking the issuer s payments network 7 although the technique is not new its scale has expanded tremendously in recent years with some attacks including millions of victims 