Terror fears over stolen passports sold on dark web
TERRORISTS are buying stolen British passports on the ‘dark web’ for as little as £750, the head of the EU’s police agency has warned.
Europol director Rob Wainwright said the encrypted corner of the internet had evolved into a ‘huge underground criminal environment’, with ‘substantial’ trading of European IDs.
However, because the dark web can only be accessed by special software that renders users anonymous, it is ‘very difficult’ for the security services to investigate cases.
An investigation revealed that sellers on the dark web – which acts like a criminal eBay – are offering the stolen passports to similar-looking criminals.
One seller bragged they had ‘valid IDs phished [stolen] from victims all around the world’.
Others advised buyers to use the passports to travel to Britain by ferry instead of flying because of lax security at the borders.
Security agencies have become increasingly concerned about use of the dark web because it is near impossible to track down potential terrorists.
Mr Wainwright said: ‘We are concerned about the way in which the dark net has evolved into a huge underground criminal environment.’
He warned there were ‘massive market places’ trading in commodities including drugs, guns, child pornography and stolen identities.
On stolen passports, he said: ‘There is a criminal trading platform ... that is substantial.
‘It means criminals and terrorists acquire criminal goods in a more secure way, making it harder ... to see what is going on and who is doing it.’
The research comes as figures show that hundreds of passports dispatched by the Government never made it into the right hands.
HM Passport Office’s delivery firm DX has lost 1,291 passports since 2011, according to figures unearthed by the Liberal Democrats.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: ‘This shows how criminal gangs and potentially even terrorists are trying to cash in and use other people’s passports... This is a massive national security risk.’
In a written reply, former immigration minister Robert Goodwill said: ‘HM Passport Office records and cancels any passport lost through delivery, and the customer is issued with a new passport at any extra cost.’