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Comment by tsycho | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one who finds it shocking that it's apparently so cheap and easy to buy stolen credit cards? Why are the law enforcers (or the banks, or other appropriate organizations) not going after these "re-sellers", atleast to find/track the original thieves?

Or am I missing something? Are these cards all (or mostly) deactivated? And so the buyers are not using them directly, and rather using them as leads/information to do some other nefarious activity?

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These organizations are based out of countries with corrupt governments, where law enforcement from the rest of the world can't easily reach. You can track a credit card peddler to Russia, but you can't do much about them there.

> Why are the law enforcers (or the banks, or other appropriate organizations) not goiging after these "re-sellers", atleast to find/track the original thieves?

Um, who says they're not?

I know someone who works for an insurance company that covers credit card and identity fraud. They are actively monitoring these sites for their costumers information. Even though that's a private company, I wouldn't be surprised if government organisations do the same.

And following LeCarré, I could easily envision some entities searching for and holding certain of these acquired credit card numbers in reserve, should there be a need to charge p*rn or some financially questionable charges onto those account holders they care to call into question.

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