The world's first online fraud museum, offering the latest artefacts of hi-tech criminal culture, has been launched by a group of US internet security experts, to the alarm of police and banking organisations.
For a signing-on fee of $99 (£69), the guide, described by one visitor as eye-popping, explains in painstaking detail how credit card numbers can be stolen over the internet or by telephone and then used to order products online.
Alongside examples of real e-mail scams used to fool trusting web users into parting with their gold card numbers, bank account details and internet passwords, the Ad Cops exhibit includes an insider's explanation of what the combinations on different card types mean, and how to establish the credit limits and validity of the cards once the numbers have been obtained.
The information is detailed, right down to the ideal modem speed for masquerading as a trader to pilfer credit information.
Daniel Clements, president of Ad Cops, insisted that the museum was a legitimate resource, which was designed to keep online retailers and banks up to speed on the latest scams.
"Adcops' primary focus is to restore, regain, or establish profitability for the merchant. He is the one paying the bill for all net fraud."
The registration fee would act as sufficient deterrent against the would-be fraudster looking for a few lessons, he added. But British police and internet security experts yesterday criticised the site as irresponsible.
A spokeswoman for the national criminal intelligence service said: "More and more criminals are moving into counterfeit credit cards because they believe it is easy to make large amounts of money. Any information which highlights the ease of this crime could encourage people to get involved."
Matthew Whitaker, of the Credit Card Research Group, which is funded by the major UK card issuers, said: "This information certainly seems dangerous.
"Consumers are protected from fraud but this is still thieving and people have to pay for it further down the line in the form of higher card rates or charges."
Internet card fraud remains less of a problem in Britain than in the US, where the boom in online shopping has provided a fertile ground for criminals.
But even in this country, electronic fraud is on the rise; as a proportion of online retail transactions, it is more prevalent than conventional fraud is on the high street, according to industry figures.
Visa, for example, says that 47% of all complaints and disputes it receives over payment across the EU are internet-related - a statistic made more startling by the fact that only 1% of its European transactions are online.
