Cyber criminals develop service to protect themselves from scammers

Ripper cc a platform designed to protect cyber criminals from being robbed by fellow cyber criminals has identified their 1000th culprit. Rippers rob others on the dark web and other criminal marketplaces. They often sell fake social media credentials; invalid or used stolen credit cards and steal money by not delivering promised goods and services.

Formed in 2016 Rippers cc keeps profile information that includes contacts and identification information, as well as the details of the specific fraud the ripper is accused of. Digital Shadows has been tracking the service since its inception.

“Ripper.cc is another example of the industrialization of hacking and the growing professionalism of cybercrime. If such a service becomes successful, it enables cyber criminals to significantly reduce the risks associated with rippers and the overall cybercrime economy can become more profitable allowing for further growth,” said Michael Marriott, security researcher at Digital Shadows.

Services like this help negate a problem for cyber criminals – that when using marketplaces profits decrease for ‘legitimate’ buyers and sellers, and slow down transactions making cyberattacks less lucrative.

The people offering the Ripper.cc service have already developed Firefox and Chrome extensions to enable functionality to operate across as many forums and marketplaces as possible. In addition, they are looking to monetise the service in a manner that appears to mirror legitimate business models.

Ripper.cc is another example of the industrialisation of cybercrime. If such a service becomes successful, it enables cyber criminals to significantly reduce the risks associated with rippers and the overall cybercrime economy can become more profitable allowing for further growth and more attacks on legitimate businesses in the region.

Staff Writer