Learn the Lingo: The Fraudster Glossary
- Like many clubs or societies, fraudsters have a language all their own
- Some slang terms are obvious, while others are very oblique
- A valuable online Fraud Glossary resource is growing by the day
People who share a common hobby or vocation often have a "lingo" of their own that they use to streamline communication and limit "leaks" to outsiders. Fraudsters, as it turns out, have a language all their own that they deploy when communicating online.
Eric Huber is the Cybercrime Research & Analysis Leader at TD Bank, and now the curator of Fraudsterglossary.com, a growing glossary of terminology and slang used by fraudsters to communicate on internet sites like Telegram.
One of the reasons I fired up this project was to encourage others to get into the fight by getting on Telegram to educate themselves about what the fraudsters are doing. I figure the easier I make it to get up and running, the better the chance more people will do it.
As of this posting, there are 188 entries -- both words and phrases -- in the Fraudster Glossary, but it is growing day by day.
CC: Credit Cards
Cook, Cooking, Cook up: Creating a counterfeit check
Fullz: Having all the information needed to create a fraudulent account;
"FRESH CC AND FULLZ AVAILABLE NOW."
Chevy: Chase Bank or JP Morgan Chase
Drip: A fraud method
"Anyone have a line on dripping Chevy?"
Collaborative Growth = Stronger Fraud Detection
The Fraudster Glossary grows by the day; Mr. Huber invites you to send any terms or phrases that you think should be added to www.ericjhuber.com.
Also, the glossary has sparked conversation on Mr. Huber's LinkedIn profile about various term usages. For example, one reader mentioned that the glossary had helped settle a disagreement about a particular term:
We’ve been having a debate on my team about “Uppy” - I’m going to share your definition with the team. I had been arguing that “uppy” was uploading the check image to the purchaser rather than mailing a paper copy, but my analysts seem to agree with your definition.
This type of collaboration is extremely important for financial institutions and law enforcement, as it helps build better understanding of the minds of fraudsters. This is similar to when financial institutions contribute to a consortium to help other FIs detect fraudulent checks or participate in collaborative meetings like our Check Fraud Roundtable, allowing valuable exchanges of information, trends, different use cases, and how to improve their check fraud detection capabilities.