text: Underground online forums are platforms that enable trades of illicit services and stolen goods. Carding forums, in particular, are known for being focused on trading financial information. However, little evidence exists about the sellers that are present on carding forums, the precise types of products they advertise, and the prices buyers pay. Existing literature mainly focuses on the organisation and structure of the forums. Furthermore, studies on carding forums are usually based on literature review, expert interviews, or data from forums that have already been shut down. This paper provides first-of-its-kind empirical evidence on active forums where stolen financial data is traded. We monitored 5 out of 25 discovered forums, collected posts from the forums over a three-month period, and analysed them quantitatively and qualitatively. We focused our analyses on products, prices, seller prolificacy, seller specialisation, and seller reputation.
  @cite_24: This work was supported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, Cyber Security Division (DHSS and T CSD) Broad Agency Announcement 11.02, the Government of Australia and SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (N66001-13-C-0131 to A.H.); and the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice (2010-IJ-CX-1676, 2010, to T. H.). The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the aforementioned agencies.
  @cite_27: Criminal activities in cyberspace are increasingly facilitated by black markets. This report characterizes these markets and describes how they have evolved, to provide insight into how their existence can harm the information security environment.
summary: Reasons for price differences include the types of cards and countries of origin, as already mentioned, in addition to the rarity and the quantity of the products to be purchased @cite_24 . Discounts on purchases of large card quantities lower the price per item. Furthermore, cards with more personal information available, with high balances and extended expiration dates and freshly acquired cards tend to be more expensive @cite_27 .