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Criminals and signals: An assessment of criminal performance in the carding underworld

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Abstract

Criminals have taken advantage of the Internet’s features to create worldwide marketplaces where illegal goods and services can be instantly bought and sold anonymously. This article focuses on an online forum that served as a transactional platform for criminals involved in the illicit trade of credit and banking information. Using Gambetta’s adaptation of the signalling theory, this research develops a predictive model identifying the signs and signals that can enhance a criminal’s performance in this criminal community. Our findings indicate that criminal performance is not distributed randomly. Individuals that are the most skilled at sending and decoding signals can expect to gain higher rewards.

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Notes

  1. This means that each message sent or received added one point to the outdegree metrics. If two users exchanged many messages, their outdegree would increase for each message.

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Décary-Hétu, D., Leppänen, A. Criminals and signals: An assessment of criminal performance in the carding underworld. Secur J 29, 442–460 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2013.39

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