Win tickets to the ATP finals
A SERVICE offering a complete “revenge package” in which people can destroy the financial status and relationships of their enemies at the click of a mouse is being offered over the internet.
For as little as £10 a month, customers of the confidentialaccess.com website can make the credit ratings of people they dislike plummet and even have them suspected of fraud.
Their bank accounts can be shut down remotely and all their essential utilities cut off.
Fake e-mails and text messages which purport to come from someone else, such as the victim’s spouse, can be sent containing false accusations of affairs or sexual liaisons.
The new “revenge” services are the latest example of the harm the internet can cause individuals.
A House of Lords committee report published last week described criminality on the web as so bad that it was like “the Wild West”.
The website, which also offers to create perfect “novelty” copies of any documentation necessary to enable the customer to gain revenge, promises its services “can create mayhem”.
“CA [Confidential Access] can make it so someone couldn’t even get an ice cream cone on credit again.”
One way of doing this, it explains, is to apply repeatedly for credit using the victim’s name and multiple addresses, leading inevitably to a red flag from the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (Cifas).
Credit is then stopped until an investigation by Cifas decides whether the subject has been the perpetrator or victim of fraud.
CA offers further ideas of how to use its services. “Create some false payslips and send them back returned to the victim’s employer and watch them lose their job,” it advises.
“Destroy a person’s bank account using our novelty bank statements. Bank accounts are like gold dust now; return[ing] a novelty bank statement with their details back to the bank works for killing someones [sic] credit card account.
“Watch your victim cry when all his/her accounts are closed.”
The website states that even accounts on eBay, the auction website, and PayPal, the internet payment system, can easily be sabotaged.
Many of its activities may be illegal. Senior police sources said confidentialaccess.com, which is apparently hosted on a Singapore-based internet server but run by Britons, is under investigation by more than one force.
The operators, who claim also to have bases in Hong Kong, Dublin and Boston, offer to fabricate a large range of documents, ranging from UK driving licences, car ownership papers and MoT certificates to P60s, payslips and bank statements.
Most items are priced at a few hundred pounds but basic membership, which entitles customers to many of the “revenge” options, costs £10 a month.
Payments can be made either over the internet, or directly into a Lloyds TSB bank account in the name of A J Smith.
Once the money is received, items are dispatched within a week or two.
The website boasts of the ultra-genuine appearance of its fakes, which are also intended to be used by customers to acquire credit from banks.
The website operators even offer to register customers on the electoral roll to a variety of properties with which they have no connection.
Verbal and written references for non-existent employment records are also supplied.
The website’s forum pages are full of glowing testimonies from satisfied customers who have apparently used CA products.
The Sunday Times obtained a fake British driving licence for £300 using a bogus name and the photograph of one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists - Adam Yahiye Gadahn, who has been accused of being an Al-Qaeda operative.
His picture appears on the fake licence, complete with a realistic-looking hologram and markings, next to a false name.
Confidential Access claims to be offering legal services but the identity of its operators, who use the name the Caxess Corporation, is hidden behind untraceable phone numbers and PO Box numbers that lead to offshore courier companies.
The website subscribes to the revenge ethos in other ways too. On its forum its site administrator displayed a letter from a fraud investigator for the Royal Bank of Scotland in which he requests that the Singapore server take down the site because it is breaching trade-mark law.
In response, the site’s operators have posted the man’s home address together with the name of his partner and suggested that subscribers post excrement through their letterbox.
Other CA members suggest letting down his car tyres, instigating a Cifas credit inquiry on him and even “paying him a visit”.
Sources at the Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed that the man, whose identity is being protected by The Sunday Times, has received threatening phone calls.
A bank spokesman said the site had recently been reported to the police.
Richard Clayton, a Cambridge University researcher on internet security and adviser to the House of Lords science and technology committee, said: “I have never come across a site devoted to offering revenge in this way before.
“The only similar thing is one or two of the extreme right-wing websites which list addresses and suggest people go and beat up political opponents.”
Industry sectors news at a glance. Interactive heatmap, video and podcast
Everything the Business Traveller needs to know to make a better trip
Get ready for the winter sports season, with our resort guides and snow reports
We are backing British business, what is the confidence of the nation and what businesses are succeeding?
Growing demand for energy, oil that is harder to reach and the rise of carbon dioxide emissions. We examine the energy challenge
Enjoy further reading from Travel to Fashion, Business to Sport, discover more
Shortcuts to help you find sections and articles
36-month car lease
on contract hire for
£359.99 plus VAT pm
12 months for the price of 11 and a 5% discount.
Offer ends 31/11/09
The UK's leading alternative to showroom finance.
Finance packages tailored to your needs.
Minimum loan of £15,000
Car Insurance
£12,578 per annum
The Independent Housing Ombudsman
London
Competitive
Barclaycard
Not Specified
The Sheppard Trust
London
£80-95,000
Clay McGuire Executive Selection
Moments from Battersea Park.
For sale with Winkworth.
See your free Experian credit report beforehand
Book now & save over £100pp.
11 cool resorts, lowest prices... Early Booking offers 15 Nov.
20% off selected Azores holidays taken in October with Sunvil Discovery
Get covered on your travels with a superb range of policies at great prices. Visit InsureandGo.com
World Class Golf, Spa and preferential Beach Club. Private estate overlooking West Coast
Villas from £275 per night inclusive of Golf
Contact our advertising team for advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times, or place your advertisement.
Times Online Services: Dating | Jobs | Property Search | Used Cars | Holidays | Births, Marriages, Deaths | Subscriptions | E-paper
News International associated websites: Globrix Property Search | Milkround
Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy.To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here.This website is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.