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Abstract
Research examining offender risk reduction strategies within illicit markets focus primarily on those operating in the real world for drugs and stolen goods. Few have considered the strategies that may be used by individuals in virtual illicit markets that are hidden from public view. This study addresses this gap through a grounded theory analysis of posts from 10 Russian and three English language web forums selling stolen data to engage in identity theft and fraud. The findings indicate that buyers employ multiple strategies to reduce their risk of loss from unreliable vendors, along with resources provided by forum administrators to manage relationships between participants. The implications of this study for law enforcement and offender decision-making research are also discussed.
Acknowledgement
The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the Department of Justice.
Notes
1. Becker, “Crime and Punishment”; Clarke and Cornish, “Modeling Offenders’ Decisions”; and Cornish and Clarke, “Understanding Crime Displacement.”
2. Cornish and Clarke, “Understanding Crime Displacement.”
3. Clarke, Situational Crime Prevention.
4. Wright and Decker, Armed Robbers in Action.
5. Cherbonneau and Copes, “Drive It Like You Stole It.”
6. Cromwell and Olson, Breaking and Entering; and Wright and Decker, Burglars on the Job.
7. Copes and Vieraitis, “Bounded Rationality of Identity Thieves.”
8. Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; and Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers.
9. Holt, Blevins, and Kuhns, “Examining Diffusion and Arrest Avoidance”; and Scott and Dedel, “Street Prostitution.”
10. Jacobs, “Crak Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance”; and Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers.
11. Gibbs, Crime, Punishment, and Deterrence.
12. Jacobs, “Undercover Deception Clues”; and Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence.”
13. See note 12 above.
14. See note 11 above.
15. Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; and Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance.”
16. Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence.”
17. Jacobs, “Deterrence and Deterrability.”
18. Jacobs, “ Undercover Deception Clues”; Jacobs, ” Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance”; Johnson and Natarajan, “Strategies to Avoid Arrest”; Knowles, “Deception, Detection, and Evasion”; Topalli, Wright, and Fornango, “Drug Dealers, Robbery and Retaliation”; and VanNostrand and Tewksbury, “The Motives and Mechanics of Operating.”
19. Jacobs, “Undercover Deception Clues.”
20. See note 15 above.
21. Knowles, “Deception, Detection, and Evasion.”
22. Cross, “Passing the Buck”; Jacobs, “Undercover Deception Clues”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance”; and Knowles, “Deception, Detection, and Evasion.”
23. Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers; and Topalli, Wright, and Fornango, “Drug Dealers, Robbery and Retaliation”; but see Jacques and Wright, “How Victimized Drug Traders.”
24. Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers.
25. Topalli, Wright, and Fornango, “Drug Dealers, Robbery and Retaliation.”
26. See note 21 above.
27. Barratt, “Silk Road: eBay for Drugs.”
28. Holt, “Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime.”
29. Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
30. For example, Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; and Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
31. See Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Holt, “Examining the Forces Shaping”; and Holt, “Exploring the Social Organization and Structure.”
32. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums”; Peretti, “Data Breaches”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
33. Higgins, “Target, Neiman Marcus Data.”
34. Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
35. Peretti, “Data Breaches”; and Symantec, Symantec Internet Security Threat.
36. Ablon et al., Markets for Cybercrime Tools and Stolen Data; and Goncharov “Russian Underground Revisited.”
37. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; and Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
38. Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
39. Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
40. Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; and Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
41. Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
42. Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
43. See note 39 above.
44. See note 37 above.
45. Holt, “Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
46. Holt, “Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; Mann and Sutton, “Netcrime”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
47. See note 45 above.
48. See Holt, “Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Wright and Decker, “Burglars on the Job.”
49. See note 41 above.
50. Holt, “Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological”; and Markham, “Internet Research.”
51. See note 50 above.
52. See note 50 above.
53. See note 50 above.
54. See note 50 above.
55. See also Holt, “Exploring the Social Organization and Structure”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
56. See also Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
57. See also Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
58. See Corbin and Strauss, Basics of Doing Qualitative Research.
59. Ibid.
60. See Chu, Holt, and Ahn, “Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
61. See note 36 above.
62. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
63. Suroweicki, “Why Did Criminals Trust Liberty Reserve.”
64. Chu, Holt, and Ahn, Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function; and Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
65. See note 18 above.
66. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums.”
67. Chu, Holt, and Ahn, Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function; and Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Holt et al., “An Exploration of the Factors Affecting the Advertised Price for Stolen Data.”
68. Holt, Blevins, and Kuhns, “Examining Diffusion and Arrest Avoidance”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; Jacobs, Topalli, and Wright, “Managing Retaliation”; Schneider, “Stolen-Goods Markets”; and Wright and Decker, Burglars on the Job.
69. See also note 40 above.
70. See note 55 above.
71. Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; Motoyama et al., “An Analysis of Underground Forums”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
72. See note 38 above.
73. Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets.”
74. See note 64 above.
75. Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price.”
76. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
77. Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price”; Holt and Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
78. See also note 76 above.
79. Felson, “Those Who Discourage Crime.”
80. Holt, “Exploring the Social Organization and Structure”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
81. Holt, “Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime”; Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
82. See note 76 above.
83. See note 37 above.
84. See note 76 above.
85. See note 18 above.
86. Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; and Knowles, “Deception, Detection, and Evasion.”
87. See note 72 above.
88. See note 37 above.
89. See note 37 above.
90. See Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; and Holt, “Exploring the Social Organization and Structure.”
91. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth.”
92. There was no clear evidence to account for the variations observed. The structure of the forum may allow administrators to completely remove any appearance by a user or simply keep them from posting in the future.
93. Holt, “Exploring the Social Organization and Structure.”
94. See note 5 above.
95. See note 2 above.
96. See note 9 above.
97. For example, see note 16 above.
98. Holt, Blevins, and Kuhns, “Examining Diffusion and Arrest Avoidance.”
99. See note 78 above.
100. See note 79 above.
101. Jacobs, “Crack Dealers and Restrictive Deterrence”; Scott and Dedel, “Street Prostitution.”
102. Ba et al., “Building trust in online auction markets”; Grahner-Kraueter, “The Role of Consumers’ Trust”; and Gregg and Scott, “The role of reputation in reducing.”
103. See note 102 above.
104. See note 103 above.
105. See note 96 above.
106. See Holt, Blevins, and Kuhns, “Examining Diffusion and Arrest Avoidance”; Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance”; Knowles, “Deception, Detection, and Evasion”; and Scott and Dedel, “Street Prostitution.”
107. Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers; and Topalli, Wright, and Fornango, “Drug Dealers, Robbery and Retaliation.”
108. Ibid.
109. Yar, “The Novelty of ‘Cybercrime’.”
110. See note 37 above.
111. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; Holt, “Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime”; and Peretti, “Data Breaches.”
112. See note 107 above.
113. Holt, “Exploring the Forces Shaping Cybercrime Markets Online”; and Wehinger, “The Dark Net.”
114. Franklin et al., “An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth”; and Herley and Florencio, “Nobody Sells Gold for the Price.”
115. Harocopos & Hough, “Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets”; and Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance.”
116. See also Poulsen, Kingpin.
117. See note 77 above.
118. See note 115 above.
119. Harocopos and Hough, “Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets”; and Jacobs, “Crack Dealers Apprehension Avoidance.”
120. See also Poulsen, Kingpin.
121. Ibid.
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Notes on contributors
Thomas J. Holt
Thomas J. Holt is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University specialising in cybercrime, policing and policy. He received his Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis in 2005. He has published extensively on cybercrime and cyberterror with over 35 peer-reviewed articles in outlets such as Crime and Delinquency, Sexual Abuse, Journal of Criminal Justice, Terrorism and Political Violence and Deviant Behavior.
Olga Smirnova
Olga Smirnova is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Eastern Carolina University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and conducts research on the role of public policy in urban and regional economic development, state and local government, and the interaction of land use and transportation policy.
Yi Ting Chua
Yi Ting Chua is a Ph.D. student in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University whose interests include cybercrime and policy analysis.
Heith Copes
Heith Copes is an associate professor of Criminal Justice with a faculty appointment in the Department of Sociology. Dr. Copes’ research interests include criminal decision-making as it relates to various types of illegal behaviour, including drug distribution and identity theft. He has published in such journals as Social Problems, British Journal of Criminology, Deviant Behavior and Justice Quarterly.