A look at the dire state of Americans' privacy, worsened by credit bureaus' data policies; Telegram bots sell troves of personal info on targets for ~$15 in BTC
It took only a few seconds to uncover the target's entire life. — On the messaging app Telegram, I entered a tiny amount …
404 MediaJoseph Cox
Context & Ripple Effects
The coverage traces a durable market for repackaging personal information: from alleged sales of consumers’ financial details to fraudsters to a broader account of how data brokers identify and sell profiles. This report makes that market tangible by showing how little effort and money can be required to retrieve an individual’s information.
People whose details are available through these services face a lower barrier to targeted fraud, harassment, or impersonation because a buyer can obtain a broad profile quickly and cheaply.
Credit-bureau data policies come under sharper scrutiny when sensitive consumer records can be assembled into actionable dossiers outside the original collection context.
Data brokers and credit-reporting firms may face demands for tighter access controls, auditing, and limits on downstream reuse, since the harm arises when records become easily searchable and purchasable.
Third-order effects
If cheap, automated lookup services persist, privacy protection will increasingly depend on controlling onward distribution and recombination of data—not simply on whether a company obtained each individual data point lawfully.
The trend: Personal-data markets are becoming more retail-like: fragmented records can be packaged into instant, inexpensive identity lookups through mainstream communication channels.
I just mentioned the new 404Media journalism outlet. This @josephcox story, one of its first, is a harrowing reminder that America's credit bureaus are a security and privacy nightmare — and that, short of Congress giving a damn (It doesn't) you can be a target of criminals with…
Our data is not being protected by these private companies, instead it's been sold and trickled down. This is why it's so critical that the @CFPB include credit header data under the FCRA protections. Credit header data includes your name, SSN, birth date, addresses, phone #'s.
Credit bureau TransUnion has its own product it sells to private investigators called TLO. TLO has become such a popular term among criminals that it is now used as a verb. These are chat messages in some Telegram channels; “TLO the bitch” https://www.404media.co/... [image]
This is a photo from a group where these bots are being advertised. These are the sorts of people that have access to addresses, etc. Data access coincides with the massive rise of physical violence among cybercriminals https://www.404media.co/... [image]
There are several of these tools being advertised to criminals who carry out physical violence for profit. I tested one of them myself. I entered the person's name and suspected state. I immediately got their full address history, phone numbers, more https://www.404media.co/... […
New—hackers have access to a powerful chain of data that lets them dox nearly anyone in US for $15. With credit cards your address goes to the credit bureaus. That is then sold to companies, and the hackers tap into that. Targets include Musk, Rogan, Biden https://www.404media.co…
This article from @josephfcox (from the new @404mediaco) is a fascinating read and the latest phase of abuse of US credit agency data by #hackers that goes back to the early 80s, but now on an industrial scale https://www.404media.co/...