Dark Web Crooks Discounting Brit Passports By 98% In Wake Of Brexit
9th June 2022
Demand for British passports slumps with fakes available for £10 compared with a global average of £485
The knock-on effect means cybercriminals are doubling down on their efforts to steal Brits' financial data instead.
UK bank account information among the most prized on the Dark Web.
London, 8 June 2022 — Cybercriminals are selling fake British passports at a 97.8% discount to the global average after Brexit tore down their value, research by cybersecurity company NordVPN can reveal1.
Detailed research into Dark Web marketplaces commissioned by NordVPN discovered British passports are now on sale for just £10.63.
That's 86.9% less than a typical EU passport (£80) and a fraction of the £485 global average. Demand for forged British passports was high before the Brexit vote in 2016 — with some being sold for up to £2,0002.
Even while the ramifications of the Brexit vote were still sinking in, Europol couldn’t find British passports for sale in 2017 for less than £7503. However it seems that following the UK’s official departure from the EU at the end of January 2020 — and the end of free movement between the UK and the bloc a year later — they have become much less desirable.
The knock-on effects of this are only now becoming clear. The NordVPN study reveals that, as criminals shun once-popular UK identity and travel documents, Britain is the only nation where the majority of illegal sales feature financial data. This poses a far greater risk to victims’ savings.
Stolen data from more than 50 countries showed that more than seven in ten (72%) British listings were financial. In the rest of the world this fell to 39% on average.
Documents, including UK passports and driving licences, made up a quarter (23%) of British listings, with personal emails (4%) and mobile account information (1%) also for sale.
The Dark Web is a corner of the internet that is hidden from normal search engines and allows users to visit all sites anonymously, making it an identity theft supermarket.
The research found Brits’ online banking details were among the most sought-after commodities available, with an average cost of £382. Log-in data from six UK lenders — Barclays (£2,305.84), Santander (£2,305.32), Natwest (£1,660.21), TSB (£1,477.93), Starling (£1,293.19) and Revolut (£1,016.07) — was among the top 10 most expensive financial merchandise.
Passports were the most valuable item listed for sale — as long as they weren’t British. The most expensive EU passports belonged to the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Lithuania with a price tag nearly 300 times higher than Brit documents at £3,073 on average.
Also on offer were full personal UK identity sets for an average of £54.74 — three times the global average (£18.99). These usually include a person’s full name, along with their National Insurance number, address and date of birth. The most expensive British document was a driving licence, averaging £81.33.
The cheapest UK information available were mobile phone numbers costing £8.08 on average, while payment card data was £12.16.
Other items found listed globally included personal IDs, voter details, online accounts for streaming and gaming services, cryptocurrency accounts and social media details.
Table: Hacked British data for sale
UK items
Average price
Bank account - £382
Driving licence - £81.33
Full personal identity data set - £54.74
Payment card data - £12.16
Passport - £10.63
Personal emails breach - £9.28
Mobile phone - £8.08
Source: NordVPN
Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, said, "The value of British passports has collapsed because they just don’t open as many doors as they used to.
"This is now having a dramatic effect on what cybercriminals look to profit from, and their new offensive involves inflicting as much financial pain on British citizens as they can.
“While the breadth of the hacked financial data available for sale is alarming, it also shows the importance of taking charge of your online security and privacy.
“For digital banking for example, make sure you request weekly statements or activate transaction notifications on your app so you can quickly spot unusual payments or charges. When logging into social media and other online sites, use two-stage verification where available so it will be harder for any of your accounts to be compromised.
“Be sure to use a strong, unique password for each account you own to avoid giving hackers an easy ride."
NordVPN recommends the following steps to stay safe online:
Use strong passwords. Take advantage of advanced features in computers and mobile phones that suggest strong passwords for you. The NordPass tool also generates and stores complex passwords.
Encrypt your files. Even if someone got hold of your files, they would not be able to access them.
Use common sense. Don’t click on suspicious links or ads, and avoid opening suspicious messages or websites. Do not give out personal data to people or companies you don’t know.
Keep your social accounts private. Make your social media pages visible only to people you know and trust.
Do not share your personal information. Keep details like your phone number or home address out of the public eye.
Use a VPN service. It will encrypt your traffic and hackers won’t be able to see what you do online. Using a VPN is essential if you use public Wi-Fi or share sensitive files over the internet.
