A longtime reader recently asked: “How do online fraudsters get the 3-digit card verification value (CVV or CVV2) code printed on the back of customer cards if merchants are forbidden from storing ...

Stolen credit card numbers are openly advertised for sale on Facebook. Facebook's Community Standards prohibit such pages and takes them down if they are reported, but they still appear in abundance.

For many years and until quite recently, credit card data stolen from online merchants has been worth far less in the cybercrime underground than cards pilfered from hacked brick-and-mortar stores.