Fraud Perpetrated on Cybercriminal’s Clock

Contrary to popular belief, cybercriminals are hard workers. They work long hours, often through the night. In fact, many are “third-shifters”—up late at night, into the early morning hours.

For example, the number one online fraud offender does his best work at 1:00 am local time in Ghana, or 5:00 pm PST. For the number two fraud offender, it’s 6:00 am Nigerian local time, or 9:00 am PST. And for number three, it’s 3:00 am in the Philippines, 11:00 am PST. That’s just one of many times when “carders,” who steal credit card numbers, take over existing accounts. 

Account takeover occurs when your online bank or credit card accounts are infiltrated and money is siphoned out. A hacked account through phishing attempts or stolen credit cards is often to blame. Criminals use stolen credit card numbers to make unauthorized charges online. Unlike regular storefronts, which may open at 10am and close at 6pm, online retailers are open day and night—in many cases doubling or tripling opportunities for theft.

While cyber fraud is a 24×7 problem, many bad actors conduct their “business” while West Coasters are bright-eyed and bushytailed, from 11:00 am—right before lunch—through dinner at 5:00 pm, and right before many of us head off to bed around 9:00 pm (at least if you’re like me, 43 years old with small kids).

iovation is the company that released these top fraud times, using data gleaned from the billions of transactions protected by their online fraud prevention service, ReputationManager 360, in 2011. The complex device identification technology allows businesses to gain grater flexibility and control over the activity on their websites by incorporating deep intelligence about end-user devices, associated accounts, and shared history.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft expert contributor to iovation, discusses identity theft  in front of the National Speakers Association. (Disclosures)