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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Skyrocketing Bitcoin Fees Hit Carders in Wallet

Summary: As Bitcoin's price climbed past $15,000 per coin in late 2017, per-transaction fees rose from under $1 to levels that pushed Dark Web carding markets to steer customers toward Litecoin. Carder's Paradise set a minimum deposit of 0.0066 BTC (about $100) with a $15.14 deposit fee, meaning a minimum deposit loses more than 15 percent to fees, and the shop said it would cut stolen credit card prices to offset the cost.

Key Takeaway: The same fee mechanics that made Bitcoin awkward for carders apply to ransomware operators and anyone else moving value through it, and the source notes crooks could pay five times the $2.50 to $3.00 a mainstream merchant pays on a $100 charge. When a payment rail gets expensive, the criminal economy migrates to alternatives like Litecoin rather than stopping, so tracking which rails your incident response and fraud teams can actually follow matters more than watching any single currency.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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