MAKATI CITY, Philippines – Stolen credit cards can be purchased on the Internet for low as 10 cents each (about P5), and fraudsters could be raking in as much as $5 billion, a Symantec report showed.

Credit card details and bank accounts--stolen, of course--are the most advertised goods in the Web's "underground" economy, the report said.

Data gathered by Symantec's Security Technology and Response (STAR) organization from underground economy servers from July 2007 to June 2008 indicate that the potential value of stolen goods advertised on the Web could be more than $276 million for the period alone.

The value was determined using the advertised prices of the goods and services and how much advertisers would make if they liquidated their inventory.

Credit card information is the most advertised category of goods and services in the underground economy, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total.

While stolen credit card numbers sell for as little as $0.10 to $25 per card, the average advertised stolen credit card limit observed by Symantec was more than $4,000.

Symantec said the potential worth of all credit cards advertised during the reporting period was $5.3 billion.

Credit card details remain popular because of the many ways they can be stolen. Also, it is often difficult for merchants or credit providers to identify whether a credit card being used is stolen, which means fraudsters complete these transactions and receive their goods before anybody suspects anything.

Also, credit card information is often sold to fraudsters in bulk, with discounts or free numbers provided with larger purchases.

The second most common category of goods and services advertised was financial accounts at 20 percent of the total, Symantec's report showed.

While stolen bank account information sells for between $10 and $1,000, the average advertised stolen bank account balance is nearly $40,000, the report noted.