Hacker Sells 1.5 Million Stolen Facebook Accounts Online

Most people believe that hackers are tech-savvy, evil geniuses who toil away hours designing sophisticated pieces of malware. In actuality, spam and other virus tactics can be simplified thanks to illicit services like those offered by a Russian hacker named 'Kirllos,' who claims to have up to 1.5 million hacked Facebook accounts in his possession.

The typical asking price for such criminal services range from US $25-$45 per 1,000 accounts, depending on the total number of accounts hacked. Still, security researchers at Verisign's iDefense are not entirely sure if the Kirllos accounts are even legitimate. If the information is found to be valid, however, Kirllos would be in possession of about one in every 300 Facebook users. (Source: computerworld.com)

Russian Hacker Offers 'Unusually Cheap' Price

It was the iDefense team that first took notice of Kirllos selling Facebook user names and passwords in an underground Internet forum. What caught their attention was the total number of user information up for sale: roughly 1.5 million accounts. Scarier still, Kirllos claims to have sold around 700,000 accounts to date.

The prices are unusually cheap, considering what others are charging for contraband accounts. In any given underground market, email usernames and passwords tend to sell between $1 and $20 per account. In comparison, Kirllos is selling similar accounts for as little as $0.025.

The more sought-after credit card and bank account details tend to sell for much more, with prices ranging from $0.85 to $30 for credit card numbers and $15 to $850 for online bank accounts. (Source: yahoo.com)

Facebook a Big Target for Scammers

With more than 400 million users worldwide, scamming and spamming seems to be considered normal behavior in the Facebook world. In one high-profiled scam, cybercriminals sent messages from a compromised account, telling contacts that the owner (usually a friend) is trapped in another country and needs money to get home.

In another well-known scam, online deviants send web links that lead to malicious software, telling friends that the link will take them to a funny or unusual video file.

Facebook has yet to respond to any messages concerning the Kirllos sales.