Daniel Daza/Netflix/"Narcos"
A recent report from account-monitoring company Logdog, surfaced by The Next Web, outlined what types of accounts were being sold in "Dark Web" marketplaces, and how much they were being sold for. These marketplaces can only be accessed by using a special internet browser called TOR that hides your computer's identifying signature, called an IP address.
The report found that access to accounts from Twitter to Amazon to dating websites were being sold in these marketplaces.
But do they work?
Raj Samani, the CTO of Intel Security, previously told Tech Insider that these marketplaces are highly competitive for sellers, and some provide a "guarantee" you'll have a lifetime subscription.
"I don't want to call it a risk-free transaction but they try to make it as risk-free as they possibly can," Samani told Tech Insider. Samani says these accounts are probably based on both stolen credit-card and account information.
As to why people are buying these accounts, Logdog writes that some are for personal consumption, while others are to help in other parts of a scam.
Here are the prices Logdog found:
- Email accounts like Gmail and Yahoo: Around $1 (70 cents to $1.20)
- Amazon accounts: Around $1 (though from 70 cents all the way up to $6, depending on the account balance and country)
- Paypal accounts: Change dramatically based on balance ($1 to over $80)
- eBay accounts: Vary as well, depending on a variety of factors (start at 60 cents, but most are $2-$4, with merchant ones sitting at around $10)
- Uber accounts: $1-$2
- Netflix accounts: $1-$2
- Twitter accounts: Usually $2-$3 (but some can go for as little as 10-30 cents)
- Dell accounts: 80 cents to $2
- Walmart accounts: About $2.50
- Premium dating website accounts: Depends on the website (Mate1 around $4, eHarmony $10, and so on)
- Brazzers adult entertainment accounts: About $1
- Social Security Numbers: $1