Originally from http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=357384&page=2.
WesternUnion/MoneyGram
WesternUnion(WU) and MoneyGram(MG) are probably the most popular payment methods, however they both have major security risks and should be avoided unless absolutely no secure option is available.
For The Receiver
Countries: All
ID: Varies by country/state. In most US states you can pick up to $999 without ID. In the UK any amount requires ID to pickup. over 600gbp will require 2 forms of ID.
Fees: The sender pays all fees.
Pickup Options: Can be picked up at any WU/MG location, see below for details
To pick up funds, have the sender send the cash and then send you the first name, last name, city/country, and MTCN (or ref# for MG). If there is a test question you (may not) need to show ID depending on where you are.
For The Sender
Countries: All
ID: Varies on the country/state; most places let you send up to $999 or 600gbp without ID.
Fees: Varies on amount. Around 10-20% Can be checked on their website
Funding Options: can be sent from any WU/MG location, see below for details
To send money find a location from the links below, go down with cash and the senders first name, last name and city and you will be able to send it. You should also check the ID requirements for your location before going down.
How they can catch you
WU/MG locations often have cameras, the forms you fill out are also specifically designed to catch fingerprints. If you repeatedly pick up money from the same location they could wait until you receive a new payment and do a stake out to catch you in the act. Or if a case was ever brought against you they would have video and fingerprint evidence showing you picking up the cash. Best bet is to find a place without cameras & wear a hat and gloves.
Ecurrency
Ecurrency is by the far most secure payment method. Ecurrency can be bought and cashed out completely anonymously. (Cashing out is a bit tricky though!)
For The Receiver
Countries:All
ID: Most exchangers require some sort of ID, however if you look hard enough you will find one that doesn’t
Fees: Depends on the exchanger usually 4-20%
Funding Options: Depends on the exchanger; usually WU/MG, Bank Deposit, Money Order, CC, CIM,etc
You can obtain ecurrency completely anonymously and for a low fee is you look in the right places.
For The Sender
Countries: All
ID: Depends on the exchanger.
Fees: Depends on the exchanger usually 0-20%
Withdrawal Options: Usually WU/MG, CIM, Bank Transfer, Anonymous ATM cards
Cashing out anonymously is very hard, however even if you decide to use WU/MG it secures you from dea set-up operations as you aren’t giving the customer your information, only the exchanger.
How they can catch you
If you do everything right, it would require extensive investigation and international cooperation to catch someone using e-currency.
Paypal/Alertpay
PayPay/AlertPay is probably the easiest way to send money, but also the least secure. You should only be using PayPal for items that are legal. The best thing about this method is that you can get your money refunded if you’re scammed.
For The Receiver
Countries: All
ID: Must be tied to a CC or Bank account to fund.
Fees: free to cash out.
Funding Options: Funded with CC or Bank Transfer
Insecure since your account needs to be tied to a valid bank account.
For The Sender
Countries:All
ID: Must be tied to CC or Bank account to withdraw or send to another account
Fees: Small fee on transfers (a few dollars)
Funding Options: CC
Insecure as it needs to be tied to a cc and not recommended.
CIM
This method is not one I’d suggest. If you send the letter non-recorded this may happen to you a) the vendor claims it never arrived. b) the postman recognizes the address as it gets a lot of money to it and simply pockets the envelope. Even if it is sent recorded there is a possibility that it will not arrive, I have had recorded packages never show. Also if you are a vendor receiving money make sure you have a PO box set up with a fake ID or an abandoned house.
For The Receiver
Countries: All
ID: You will need a fake ID and possibly a utility bill to set up a PO box. You may also need to show ID if the packet is recorded or is too big to fit in the PO box itself.
Fees: None
Funding Options:
Make sure you have a PO box set up with a Fake ID.
For The Sender
Countries: All
ID: None
Fees: None other than currency conversion
Funding Options:
Your envelope could easily be lost, if you send it tracked make sure there is someone at the receiving end to sign for it.
How they can catch you
The police could do a stake-out at the PO location, they cannot do 24/7 manned surveillance but most likely they will have your picture (either from cameras or the picture on your fake ID). Get items tracked and if anything fishy happens (held in customs) forget about the package, at least for 6mo or so.
MoneyPak/Greendot
I’m not 100% sure on this as I’m not from America. But from what I can understand, to withdraw MoneyPak/Greendot your card needs to be tied to a legit SSN (the will only send the card to matching credit report of that SSN) so you will need to commit identity theft to cash out with this method.
For The Sender
Countries:USA
ID: No ID required
Funding Options: You can buy the card at Walmart or Walgreens
Fees: $9.95 is the initial cost of the card (can be reused)
In order to get the card you need someones Real Name, Date of birth, SSN, and it also needs to be shipped to a address. When withdrawing money you should wear a mask as it’ll be recorded. Best bet is use a friends identity, if worse comes to worse they can just say someone stole their information (as they will not be linked to the RC scene)
For The Receiver
Countries: USA
ID: SS and valid house address needed to receive money.
Fees: $4.95 per card (the card cannot be reused)
Withdrawl Options: You can withdraw at ATMs
Sending money is fairly anonymous, however receiving money is impossible to do with out committing identity theft.
Since the receivers card has to be tied to a valid SSN the only safe way to get this card requires identity theft.
Cashiers Cheques/Postal Orders
A Money Order is just like a cheque. You can buy them at several places such as convient stores, post offices, banks. Some places have limits and it’s usually $500 or $1k. Anymore than that and you’ll need a Cashier’s Cheque. A Cashier’s cheque is identical to a Money Order but are for larger amounts. These work the same way but can only be bought and withdrawn at banks.
For The Receiver
Countries: Domestic
ID: You will most likely need ID to pickup and will be recorded on camera.
Fees: Only a few dollars, $500 limit.
Funding Options: Can be funded with cash via Banks, Post of offices, etc
You buy the money order with cash at a post office, bank, etc and then mail the Money Order to the vendor. A Cashier’s cheque is identical to a Money Order but are for larger amounts. These work the same way but can only be bought and withdrawn at banks.
if it’s lost you can get your money back if you have the receipt).
For The Sender
How they can catch you
For the sender: This carries the same difficulties as WU/MG - most likely cameras and finger print sensitive documents at the sending location. For the receiver: You need to give out a physical location to get the moneyorder, so this carries the same danger as CIM + you need to go to a establishment and usually show ID to cash out.
Example Scenarios
RC Internet Sourcing
From http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/archive/index.php/t-342009.html.
Sending and receiving of payment is one of the riskiest parts of internet sourcing. There are no fail safe methods, but there are certain methods which can be used to minimize the risks on both sides. The primary system of sending and receiving payments should focus mostly on digital currency. Vendors take several different types of payment, from E-currency to Western union, moneygram, Paypal, Cash in the mail and more. Most Vendors take either an E-currency or Western union / Moneygram.
Method of accepting payment from the perspective of recipient of payment:
Set up an E-currency account using fake information. Depending on the E-currency used, information used to create accounts is almost never verified unless very large amounts of money go to the account.
When setting up the E-currency account, Tor and public WiFi should be used to ensure that you leave no traces back to your actual location.
After the account is set up, you can request payment to that account to your customers. They have a few ways of funding E-currency, there are dozens of exchangers who sell E-currency of different types of payments. The more anonymous ways of buying E-currency (Western union with fake information, cash in mail wearing gloves and fake return address, money order from fake ID, ETC) should be used over the less anonymous ways (Bank wire, credit card, paypal, etc).
Once the customer has E-currency loaded to their account (which they should also make with fake information) you can have them transfer it to your account online (they should also use Tor).
Once the E-currency is in your account, you should create a string of other clean E-currency accounts. Over a period of some days or some weeks, funnel money from your dirty E-currency accounts (accounts customers know the #s of) through your clean E-currency accounts (the ones you make to be clean). Between transferring money from one dirty account to a clean account, or one clean account to another, clear your cookies and history etc and use a different Tor node. This makes it hard to prove that the person using one account you send ecurrency to has any ties to the person (also you jsut a different fake name and ip address) that the original dirty money was sent to.
I suggest funds be funneled through no less than two clean E-currency accounts with two different exit nodes, and then pooled in four or five main clean E-currency end accounts. From the end accounts the E-currency should be converted from one type to another type based in a different country than the first type. Once converted one more account funnel should be done with a single extra clean account and proxy node to send the new ecurrency to another clean account of the same ecurrency. After you have done this, it is time to cash out. The safest way for most people to cash out E-currency is to use WU or MG with a QnA or a fake ID. A few different fake ID can also be used for larger amounts of $ and to generally be more safe about it. Wear a hat and long sleeves to WU and possibly even fake glasses if you can pull it off with out looking too sketchy. Simply go to a random WU (park a GOOD deal away from the WU building or take a bike!) and give your info that the exchange company converting your digital currency to a WU payment gives you. In the UK you will need a fake ID to do this in usa QNA still works for now for 1000$ or less.
This is a good way to cash out $ and depending on how many fake IDs you can get / how much you clean the currency, you can cash out a few thousand dollars a week pretty damn anonymously and safely.
Also a tip for customers, if a vendor takes WU or MG you don’t need to go into the WU or MG place and be on camera and get your real info logged , id scanned sometimes, finger prints all over the forms ETC. Just buy E-currency anonymously and the cash the Ecurrency out to the vendors WU info through a third party exchanger. That way there is no record of you sending payment and you are not on camera or any of that other shit.
