I want card info

1. What “card info” means in public reporting — a short primer

When security firms and news sites say “card info” they usually mean payment-card numbers, expiration dates and sometimes CVV codes plus cardholder names and addresses; those fields are the data most commonly traded on dark‑web carding sites and are explicitly mentioned in several dumps and breach notices ^{[3] [5]}. Infostealer malware commonly harvests that dataset from infected devices and phishing pages, and researchers map leaks back to those collection methods ^{[1] [6]}.

2. The scale: millions of cards, multiple sources

Multiple analyses and press notices point to very large volumes. Kaspersky’s Digital Footprint Intelligence estimated roughly 2.3 million bank cards leaked to the dark web from infostealer logs, and wider reporting framed the infostealer impact as nearly 26 million infected devices that yielded millions of card records ^{[1] [2]}. Independent carding dumps and underground promotions also surfaced multi‑million card packages — for example, reports described a 2.1–2.3 million‑card dump circulated by a marketplace ^[3].

3. How the data is collected: phishing, infostealers and third‑party breaches

Analysts trace leaks to three recurring vectors: phishing pages that capture screenshots and form entries, infostealer trojans that log local data and browser‑saved payment info, and breaches at payment processors or merchant gateways that expose stored card records ^{[7] [1] [5]}. Investigations of specific leaks found evidence consistent with phishing‑captured screenshots and naming conventions used by stealers, while breach notices name third‑party payment handlers as the source in other incidents ^{[7] [5] [6]}.

4. Where the data appears and how researchers track it

Stolen card data shows up on carding marketplaces, dark‑web forums and on ransomware/actor leak sites; some public trackers compile the latest incidents by scraping actor pages, enabling near‑real‑time monitoring of new exposures ^{[4] [3]}. Security vendors and journalists rely on threat intelligence and dark‑web monitoring to estimate totals, but those estimates vary by methodology and access to underground sites ^{[1] [2]}.

5. What criminals can do with card data and limitations of stolen datasets

Even when a dump lacks names or full PII, card numbers with CVV and expiry can be useful for immediate card‑not‑present fraud, automated testing, or to combine with other leaked datasets for identity fraud; researchers warn that plain‑text card dumps increase downstream risks ^{[8] [3]}. However, some exposed numbers are quickly canceled by issuers after fraud is detected, and not every card in a bulk dump is guaranteed to be valid indefinitely — that nuance appears across analyst commentary ^{[3] [2]}.

6. Practical consumer takeaways and institution responses

Security vendors advise monitoring cards, setting alerts, and freezing or replacing exposed cards after notifications; credit unions and issuers communicate breach responses such as mailing replacement cards and urging card monitoring ^{[9] [10]}. Companies handling payments have also been publicly notified in several incidents and investigations are ongoing when large processor breaches occur ^[5].

7. Disagreements, caveats and gaps in available reporting

Sources differ on scope and attribution: vendor telemetry (Kaspersky) ties many leaks to infostealers and estimates 2.3 million cards from logs, while reporting on carding markets cites promotional dumps of ~2–2.1 million cards — these figures can overlap and may partly count the same records or distinct collections ^{[1] [3] [2]}. Available sources do not mention whether all leaked cards are unique, how many are still active, or specifics about which individual banks are affected beyond isolated breach notices ^{[1] [3] [5]}.

8. If your intent was different: legal vs. illicit uses of “card info”

If you meant legitimate card‑issuance or product details (how to get a credit/debit card, features, fees), available sources focus on breaches and leaks and do not provide consumer‑product how‑to guidance in this dataset — not found in current reporting (p1_s1…^[7]4). If you meant how to obtain stolen card data, that is criminal activity and these sources document its prevalence but do not provide or condone access to such material ^{[3] [2]}.

Limitations: this summary relies only on the provided sources and their public reporting; exact counts and overlap among reported leaks vary by methodology and the underground’s opacity ^{[1] [3] [2]}. If you want specific consumer advice (how to check your own cards, dispute charges, or sign up for monitoring) I can pull available vendor guidance next from the same corpus.