Facebook makes its money by gathering our personal data, packaging it, and selling it to advertisers. They say it’s the price we pay to use the service for free. If Facebook had to pay us for the information, however, what price tag would you put on it? We now have an answer.
Security Baron surveyed 3,000 folks across the U.S. and asked them what price they would be willing to accept if someone wanted to buy their social media data. In Alabama, people valued their social media data for $2,336.54. The average in the U.S. is $2,163.15.
Folks in Vermont place a higher value on it ($4,125) and West Virginians would sell it for $375.
Check your state stats here.
That’s a pretty hefty price tag, especially when you consider what you already buy on the dark web. Email addresses are bundled and sold in groups. 1,000 Gmail accounts can bring up to $200 dollars. 1,000 Hotmail or Yahoo accounts might go for $10-$12 dollars. Your social media accounts and passwords or for sale as well.
Havocscope is considered the go-to source for information about the global black market. According to Havocscope, here is what crooks are getting for your personal information:
Value Of Personal Information On The Dark Web
- Stolen ID to buy health insurance: $1,250
- Stolen Driver’s License: $200-$5,000
- Stolen Passport: $2,500-$7,000
- Stolen Premium Credit Card info: $250
Fake ID cards, stolen passports and fake documents alone account for $100 million dollars’ worth of illegal trade on the dark web. Even fake diplomas make up $1 billion dollars’ worth of transactions every year. Non-premium credit cards are sold in lots, for roughly $6 dollars for 1,000. The price is low because many of the cards are not active or have been reported as stolen.
At any one time, there is more than $1.63 trillion – yes trillion! – dollars’ worth of products available for sale on the dark web.
Full Identity Kits And Medical Information
Thieves will often sell a full identity kit – including personal information, social security number, driver’s license, and bank account information including routing numbers for $1,500 or less.
Medical information is a prized commodity. The information is used to defraud hospitals and doctors by using the information to get medical treatment. In the case of a medical emergency, sometimes critical insurance or personal information can bypass the normal scrutiny it might get otherwise. In other cases, it is used to buy medical equipment for resale or to file fraudulent insurance claims.
Your Bank Account Information May Be For Sale
Online bank accounts are commonly traded on the dark web for big bucks. A U.S. based bank account – with user name and password can bring in 2% of the account’s total balance. An account based in the European Union can bring in 4% to 6% of the balance.
An online account at PayPal can command prices between 6% and 20% of the account balance.
Paul Dughi.com 