Beware: Your Apple ID could be up for sale for just $15 on the Dark Web
Using an Apple product? Well, you should know that you are probably on the hit list for having one of the most valuable and expensive non-financial accounts. Cyber criminals are all eyes for your account and can fetch a good amount of money if sold on the dark web. However, for a casual hacker, your account will fetch as little as $15, a cyber criminal can use the data in the account to make more money than what the hacker can make, depending on what data is stored in it. Important emails, spicy photos, juicy chats and a complete load of important contacts and account information — a heaven for cyber criminals hunting for sensitive information.
According to a report by Top10VPN, a company that offers VPN services, Apple IDs cost around $15.39 in average on the dark web or online black market.
‘Our team reviewed all fraud-related listings on three of the largest dark web markets, Dream, Point and Wall Street Market over 5-11 February 2018. Relevant listings were collated and categorized in order to calculate average sale prices,’ said the report.
Now this is the price for accounts that may not have any financial benefits within. However, if your Apple ID is associated with wallets and financial accounts, the price can break the roof. For example, PayPal credentials can fetch $274 each, while Western Union accounts and debit cards can fetch as good as $101 and $67.50 respectively. Credit cards details are generally ‘affordable’ and can fetch as much as $50 each. Microsoft Skype accounts cost less than $50 — while hackers can’t gain much from these types of accounts, they usually use these accounts to spread malware or links to phishing websites that make more money.
“Dark web bidders can get hold of your passport details for as little as $60, while access to online shopping accounts such as Amazon and Walmart are rarely worth much more than $10 and often a lot less. Even eBay accounts with their broad scope for fraud fetch just $12 on the dark web. Vital communications services, like Skype and T-Mobile, are worth less than $10 each. With these details, fraudsters could send messages containing phishing links to trusted contacts or get around security features that rely on SMS verification. On the dark web, even logins to dating sites are valuable, and tend to earn bidders on average $3.11 – allowing criminals to ‘catfish’ potential matches, sparking up relationships to manipulate people for financial gain,’ reveals the report.
Most accounts sold on the dark web are via phishing scams and Apple IDs have been the major target every time. Take for example the infamous Fappening scandal where intimate pictures of celebrities were stolen after hackers compromised their iCloud accounts and stole Apple ID credentials to gain access to their photos stored in the cloud.
iPhones are configured by default to store/upload all photos from the camera roll straight on to iCloud as backups. Gaining access to these accounts are what hackers are keen on.
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