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KINGPIN

hundreds, then thousands, of members from across North America and Europe. They were identity thieves, hackers, phishers, spammers, currency counterfeiters, credit card forgers, all of whom had been slaving away in their apartments and warehouses, blind, until now, to the vastness of their secret brotherhood.

The carders of Eastern Europe had watched Counterfeit Library with envy. Now they wanted to apply the same alchemy to their own underground.

In June 2001, the result of the Odessa summit was unveiled: the International Carders Alliance, or simply Carderplanet.com, a tightly organized reinvention of Counterfeit Library catering to the underworld of the former Soviet empire. While Counterfeit Library was a freewheeling discussion board and BOA Factory a straightforward storefront operation, CarderPlanet was a disciplined online bazaar, charged with the excitement of a commodities exchange.

Unabashed in its purpose, the site adopted the nomenclature of the Italian Mafia for its rigid hierarchy. A registered user was a “sgarrista”— a soldier, without special privileges. One step up was a “giovane d’honore,” who helped moderate the discussions under the supervision of a “capo.” At the top of the food chain was CarderPlanet’s don, Script.

Russian-speaking vendors flocked to the new site to offer an array of products and services. Credit card numbers were a staple, naturally, but only the beginning. Some sellers specialized in the more valuable “full infos”— a credit card number accompanied by the owner’s name, address, Social Security number, and mother’s maiden name, all for around $30. Hacked eBay accounts were worth $20. Ambitious buyers could spend $100 for a “change of billing,” or COB, a stolen credit card account where the billing address could be changed to a mail drop under the buyer’s control. Other vendors sold counterfeit checks or money orders, or rented drop addresses in the United States where merchandise ordered on American credit cards could be delivered without raising alarms and then reshipped to the scammer.