Dark web price index: $30 for ID, $300 for a verified crypto account

On dark web marketplaces, identity has just been another commodity since the days of the infamous Silk Road, if not before. But a recent review of 25 easily accessible dark web markets and forums by analysts at AMLTRIX [https://amltrix.com], an open-source anti-money laundering framework, shows just how far this trade has expanded, and how easy and cheap it has become to attempt defeating the biometric algorithms used by major fintechs and traditional banks.

Bypassing the Know Your Customer (KYC) process became the simple question of spending $30

Verification bypassing became industrialised. For roughly $30, criminals can purchase a "verified" existence: a high-resolution ID scan, a matching selfie, and a dossier of personal data. Although a lot of verification systems now require a live video with an ID or passport, such data can be fed into camera emulators that bypass at least some standard live checks.

"A full identity pack with ID scan and selfie is now cheap enough and accessible for criminals to buy in bulk, and if that is not enough, the dark web offers other, more reliable, although more expensive options," says AMLTRIX co-founder Gabrielius Erikas Bilkštys. "That reflects how often the same personal data is stolen and resold, and how industrialised this market has become."

Once online, the same identity can be used repeatedly to open bank accounts, crypto wallets, or payment app profiles, with the original victim often unaware until debt collectors or law enforcement become involved.

The consequences for victims extend beyond a damaged credit score. Because these "Full Identity Packages" are specifically used to build mule accounts for laundering, victims whose faces and IDs are sold may find themselves flagged not just by debt collectors, but by criminal investigators.

While a stolen credit card offers a one-time payout, a full identity package allows criminal syndicates to open mule accounts, laundering huge sums through a legitimate banking infrastructure before the fraud is detected. In its September 2025 report, UNODC notes that in organised fraud schemes, "bank accounts are commonly registered to fake, stolen, or borrowed identities".

Prices of identifying document sets are dictated by how rigorous the target country's banking compliance is. According to the analysis:
● US Profiles: $45 - $100.
● Polish/Danish Profiles: $30 - $40.
● UK Profiles: $30 - $35.
● Russian/French/Australian Profiles: $20 - $30.

Dark web marketplaces are also full of high-priced promises. Listings for physical documents such as an Irish passport for $2,500 or a UK "frequent traveller" passport for $2,600 suggest a trade in border-crossing capabilities.

However, analysts note that these high-ticket items are often "honey pots" or frauds targeting other criminals. This dynamic has forced the trade downstream, and the reliable trade has consolidated around low-cost digital goods.

The black market is no longer driven solely by one-off thefts, but by the demand for components used to build synthetic identities. When vendors list verified crypto accounts for $200 - $400, they are effectively selling an easy solution for money laundering.

The steep markup for a pre-verified account, jumping from $30 for raw data to $300 for a functioning crypto account, indicates a high failure rate for criminals attempting to do the verification themselves. Criminals are paying a premium to outsource the risk of getting caught by biometric filters, suggesting that while the "entry fee" for fraud has dropped, the technical barrier to success remains significant.

For organisations, one of the key misunderstandings is seeing the dark web as a completely separate world. "Many organisations still think of the dark web as a distant, exotic threat," says Gabrielius Erikas Bilkštys. "In reality, it is tightly connected to everyday phishing campaigns, large data breaches, account takeovers, and money laundering cases that compliance teams are already dealing with."

For financial institutions, simply collecting more documents or selfies is not enough. They need to assess how plausible those identities are over time, and to spot behavioural patterns that suggest accounts are being controlled by criminal networks rather than genuine customers.

As the barrier to entry for identity fraud drops, the defence can no longer rely on static documents. The challenge for 2025 is not just verifying who a customer is, but verifying that the person behind the screen isn't coming from the marketplaces of the dark web.

Methodology
Data collection was conducted over a five-day period from 28th November to 2nd December, 2025. Sources included a representative selection of prominent dark web marketplaces and forums, identified through a systematic review of major and easily accessible dark web directories and search engines. Selection was determined through a reputation-based verification process. Only marketplaces and forums explicitly indexed on major navigational directories and mentioned by positive feedback threads on independent discussion hubs were included. This method minimised the risk of including phishing sites or 'honey pots' in the dataset.

These activities fall under AMLTRIX's "Identity Impersonation" technique, part of the Access Facilitation tactic. This technique captures how adversaries leverage stolen or fabricated identities to open mule accounts, bypass onboarding controls, and create synthetic customers. For full details, see: T0140.001 - Identity Impersonation [https://framework.amltrix.com/techniques/T0140.001].

AMLTRIX
Žalgirio g. 90, LT-09303 Vilnius, Lithuania
Erik Murin
AMLTRIX PR consultant
Tel: +37063359035
Email: erik@amltrix.com

AMLTRIX was founded and created by enthusiasts from the regtech company AMLYZE. AMLTRIX is the world's first open-source knowledge initiative dedicated to standardising the fight against financial crime. It provides a structured, collaborative knowledge graph of money laundering tactics, techniques, and risk indicators. By creating a universal language for the AML/CFT community, AMLTRIX aims to enhance transparency, improve AI detection, and foster unprecedented collaboration among financial institutions, regulators, and technology providers to build a safer global financial system.

This release was published on openPR.