Many countries passports are now available in Dark web marketplace in different categories along with additional documents such as address proof, driving license copy etc.
Criminals are selling the major countries passport copy in various dark web marketplaces such as Dream Market, Berlusconi Market, Wall Street Market, and Tochka Free Market.
They are selling passport in various form such as forged or real, forms of identification, typically a utility bill, selfie of the ID card owner holding up their ID, and/or a driver’s license.
The price will be based on the type of passport copy, along with proof, or physical passport or multiple forms of ID are usually required to pass proof-of-address and proof-of-identification checks on websites.
Researcher discloses the following identified data and the price list of the passport.
- The average price of a digital passport scan is $14.71.
- If proof of address or proof of identification —a selfie, utility bill and/or driver’s license—is added to a passport scan, the average price jumps to $61.27.
- Australian passport scans were the most common, and yet, the most expensive ($32).
- The average price of a real, physical passport is $13,567.
- The average price of a counterfeit, physical passport is $1,478.
In this case, multiple forms of the ID cards are required because they need to pass the proof-of-address and proof-of-identification checks on websites.
According to comparitech, In total, we found 48 unique listings for real passports scans, 38 of which were not sold with any accompanying proof of ID or address. Those 48 spanned 20 countries, the prices of which you can view in this table:
In this case, Australia,UK and US C countries passports are the most frequently listed and selling it on dark web.
What types of Passport are Selling in Dark Web
Experts analyzing the various dark web marketplace and find out the following prices for different categories passport.
- Editable Photoshop templates used for making fake passport scans. These cost very little and are available for almost any Western country. They make up the majority of marketplace listings when searching for “passport”.
- Digital passport scans. These real scans of actual passports cost around $10 each and are often sold in bulk. They are available for several countries and are fairly common.
- Physical passport forgeries. We found listings for counterfeit passport forgeries for a handful of European countries. They typically cost north of $1,000.
- Real, physical passports. These are the real deal (according to the listing), so they are not common nor cheap. Most of them cost more than $12,000.
Buyers only can able to purchase it using cryptocurrency, typically Bitcoin or Monero.
Apart from this, Most of the countries Physical passport also selling in dark web which is in 2 categories (genuine and forgeries) which is used for fraud-related crimes as well as illegal immigration, human trafficking, and smuggling.
Protect your Passport.
Protecting your passport is difficult because travelers are required to show them on so many occasions while traveling. Passports are required at immigration checkpoints, hotel check-ins, and when applying to jobs and schools abroad. Passports are often scanned and stored on computers that may not be sufficiently secure, comparitech said.
Here are a few tips:
- In many cases, you can provide your own copy of your passport rather than having a stranger scan it. Make black-and-white scans ahead of your trip, because most criminals want color copies.
- Don’t post photos of the inside of your passport on social media.
- Dispose of old passports by destroying them, don’t just throw them away.
- Don’t store your passport in checked luggage on a plane, train, or bus.
- Watch out for pickpockets, and consider an anti-theft bag.
- Don’t leave your passport lying out when you’re not around, such as in a hotel room. Lock it up when possible.
- Don’t store scans of your passport on your device in case it’s stolen or hacked. Encrypt and store the scans on a separate hard drive or in the cloud instead.
- Don’t store your passport with other identifying documents that could be used to steal your identity
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