A new study by javelin research claims that most cases of ID theft are caused by lost or stolen wallets (43%), not data breaches (11%). Certainly not what I would have expected these days.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/stolen-wallets.html

I would say this. Having seen boards run by the Russian crime syndicates (shadowcrew, et al) the big Russian suppliers want only to "cash." They hardly ever get a mule to change identities, when that mule does its almost always due to law enforcement chasing them.

If you read about ID theft a lot, there are some good stories that Wired has done. The recent ones profile how the FBI and Secret Service infiltrate and track the carder forums, but there were a few older ones written and submitted by the carders themselves describing how they interacted with the global syndicates, cashed out cards in waves (which recently happened again), and bought merchandise to ship to foreign countries. ID theft is hardly mentioned.

If i can find the article its a good read, i think the carder was El Mariachi.

Lolz! I was about to give my expert opinion based on Jason's post alone without reading the actual article.
Thanks you saved me

Egg on face. 

I should have...


Don

Easy dude.
Everyone has gone through this.