Malware Gangs Run Ads To Hire New Coders 120
An anonymous reader writes "Think crime doesn't pay? Think again: an increasingly common sight on underground cybercrime forums are ads paid for by malware writers who are looking to hire talented new programmers. The most common ads are for 'crypters' designed to disguise known malware, and 'Web injects,' plug-ins made to run alongside crime kits like ZeuS and SpyEye. Salaries range from $2,000 to $5,000 monthly, health benefits not included."
Honeypot? (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, if I was even considering writing malware, this would smell like a major sting operation.
The group recruiting for this service must expect that plenty of white hats and/or law enforcement would apply just to see who responds. It would be asinine.
This is one of those industries where I would expect recruitment to be a "don't call us, we'll call you" type of situation.
Re:What are the requirements??? (Score:5, Interesting)
My wife has been accepted to Vet School in Ireland. Not only does that not allow me to live in Ireland with her, I'm also unable to work without 'sponsorship'. While I've had plenty of interest, as soon as I mention my inability to work without sponsorship, they drop me like a bad habit.
The time difference, distance, viable exchange rate along with other reasons all mean I don't want to continue working at my current job.
My citizenship status makes it very difficult to find a job in Dublin. There are very few legit jobs in the US that would want me in the given situation. I'm a decent developer, but I'm nothing special. I've worked as a consultant; but if you were going to bring in an expert contractor - I don't have the experience/skills. If you are going to bring in a 'pretty good dev', you'd get a local guy.
In my situation, options are limited. I don't have much exposure to malware/scammers/etc - so I don't know how much luck I'd have earning a money with my own scams. It's also relatively unlikely that I'd be able to launch some great web startup that would fund my lifestyle. People have done it, but it's rare and they tend to be smarter, more skilled, and more dedicated than I am.
I have some savings, but once I can no longer show the ability to financially support myself; Ireland will kick me out. I still have months before it comes to that; but it very likely will happen in the next 6-9 months (I haven't moved there yet). As that deadline comes closer I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't *consider* slightly less than legal methods of earning money. I mean, even if I setup a website, printed some fliers and fixed local college kid's computers for $15 an hour, I'd be breaking the law.
Re:New plan (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually - I've often wondered why we don't hear about more low tech cases of identify theft/credit card fraud. Maybe it's just so easy to do it with malware nobody cares.
Post real positions on Criagslist and others for legitimate sounding work. Be selective, post realistic requirements and pay, do a phone interview. I'd even explain that, 'Hey, since this is a work from home job/telecommute job - we're going to need your college transcripts'. That makes it seem more legit. Of course, a legit job needs your SSN. I've done real work from home (software development) and they need my SSN. It was a real company, and they paid me.
Not only would you get all of their SSN and personal info....the transcript would be worth a lot of money too. Yeah, you can open some credit cards and what not with the SSN; but have you seen how easy it is to get money for school these days? My wife barely makes over minimum wage and she was approved for SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for her first year of school. Stop and read that again. Now, granted, say half of that is tuition. That still leaves THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. And it's pretty easy to get into a lot of graduate programs.....I'm doing my Master's right now and they didn't even need my GRE scores (they did require transcripts though). With relative ease and someone's information, I could apply on their behalf to a school, get accepted, get student loans, and get a LOT OF MONEY.
Maybe there is more about this I don't know; but it seems like it would work. In this economy, I'm sure you'd get a lot of bites from your job post; for a start date 2 months in the future. After you get the info you wait, and keep collecting it from others. At the end of the two months, you apologize to everyone and say the economic downturn has caused the project to be cancelled. You have the info but haven't done anything illegal yet. Repeat 4-5 times with different information.
Then, move, and start with the identify theft. Cha-ching. Do it in the order you collected the info; so by the time you open your first CC card, it's been 9-12 months before you got their info. They'd have a lot of trouble tracking you down. And, if the student loan thing worked out - oh man - that's a lot of money.
Just don't get caught.