At the end of the noughties, anonymous networks arrived, which had previously been available to a narrow circle of IT specialists. Almost immediately, their capabilities were appreciated by the attackers, who were not constrained by any legal restrictions and boldly using all advanced technologies for their own purposes. Since about 2010, the systematic migration of online crime to anonymous networks has begun. By now, that’s where the black market has moved — everything that can’t be sold openly.
Tor forums are now recruiting accomplices to criminal groups, looking for virus writers, selling databases of stolen bank cards, blanks for spinning equipment, such as ATM nozzles that read customer data. For payment, the bitcoin cryptocurrency is most often used, which can provide anonymity and irrevocability of transactions.
Even social scammers have moved online.
If someone else is walking around the apartments, it’s a drop in the bucket. In order to commit such a crime, a person registers an account in a social network, finds some photos and puts them in a profile, joins a group, allegedly sells some thing, receives money for it and does not send the goods. The scheme is elementary. Anyone can pull it off in 15 minutes, and investigators have to interact with banks and payment systems.
