***Warning*** do not do any of the things I describe below at home! If you do you may lose your credit rating, your bank accounts and invite scrutiny from the authorities. This article is a summary of my findings. The organisers of the recent Hackron security conference, held in Tenerife, asked me to prepare a presentation about criminals’ offerings on the dark web related to bank accounts opened using fake IDs. In my work as an information security researcher, I test the systems of banks and financial institutions to see how robust they are. And as Timur Yunusov explains in this guest article, it’s not difficult for ingenious hackers to find their way around the rules. But sanctions can only be enforced if the dividing line between permitted and illicit financial activities is well-defined. Amidst the escalating war in Ukraine, Western countries are seeking to step up sanctions against Russia-linked entities.
