During a 30-year career as a Detective at New Scotland Yard, Colin Holder conducted investigations into fraud and money laundering in more than 25 countries worldwide. In 2001, he set up the Metropolitan Police’s Fraud Alert website. This was the first site created by a major law enforcement agency to combat internet fraud. After retiring from the police force, Colin continued his work capturing identity fraud-related threat intelligence and partnered with ION Group to launch Cybercheck.
In conventional UK underworld slang, a dobber is an informer or grass — someone who betrays others to the authorities. However, the word has another, more specific meaning that exposes the world of organised identity theft and digital fraud.
What is a dobber?
In online fraud, a dobber is a specialist criminal who supplies personal data about potential victims. The word is a portmanteau of two key components of a person’s identity: Date of Birth (DOB) + Electoral Roll (ER).
In the days before credit reference agencies tightened their security controls, combining these two data points was often enough for a fraudster to obtain an individual’s credit file. This enabled them to open fraudulent credit accounts and purchase goods online.
Why dobbers are vital to the fraud ecosystem
When dobbers were first observed in the early 2000s, the security measures at credit reference agencies were fairly easy to bypass. Where a fraudster possessed a name, address, and date of birth consistent with the electoral roll, access to a credit file was almost assured. This made dobbers a critical resource within the fraud ecosystem.
Dobbers typically charged £10-£25, and demand extended beyond individual profiles. For example, criminals with access to communal mail in apartment blocks frequently commissioned dobbers to identify residents, confirm dates of birth, and provide validated identity details.
A window into the underworld: Observing online criminal forums
In 2002, I led a dedicated unit of London’s Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad that investigated the increasing use of the Internet by advance-fee fraudsters targeting individuals in the United Kingdom.
In those days, online criminal forums were relatively accessible. By creating a pseudonymous email address and user profile, we could readily observe discussions in which fraudsters openly exchanged knowledge, techniques, and resources for conducting fraud.
Also, policing wasn’t subject to the extensive procedures and risk assessments of today. We could take a straightforward approach of join, observe, and monitor.
Criminal forums were volatile environments. Disputes frequently led to splits and the creation of new platforms, often using copied membership lists. We were able to track these developments and maintain oversight across both the original and successor forums.
During these investigations, the term dobber appeared repeatedly. The dobber’s importance to organised crime networks became clear.
As online security improved, dobbers became increasingly sophisticated
As the online environment matured, the availability of personal information increased, but traditional sources of data, such as credit reference agencies, loyalty card schemes, and utility providers, implemented stricter controls. Although this limited some opportunities, dobbers adapted their methods.
Today, the dobber role has developed into a permanent and specialised function within online fraud networks. All major organised crime groups retain specialist dobbers who source data from a range of channels, including:
- Compromised commercial websites.
- Criminal marketplaces selling stolen or hacked data.
- Other underground networks.
Crucially, the use of stolen payment cards to purchase data has further insulated the dobbers from being connected directly to the purchased data.
What began as a relatively unsophisticated service offering DOB + ER checks in exchange for small sums has evolved into a professionalised trade in high-value identity packages.
Meanwhile, online fraud has become pervasive in the UK. Ofcom found that 46% of adults have been taken in by an online scam of some sort, and 24% have experienced identity fraud.
Dobbers today trade ready-made fraud packages
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, independent dobbers in the UK began to identify new opportunities. Using data compromised in earlier breaches or hacks, dobbers would:
- Register a company at Companies House in the victim’s name.
- Open a bank account linked to that company.
- Sell the complete package to other criminals for use in various fraud schemes.
These ready-made fraud packages initially sold for as little as £250. However, bespoke versions — such as those involving a high-street bank account rather than a challenger bank, or the inclusion of a Government Gateway ID — commanded up to £1,000.
Prices have remained broadly stable since the pandemic, though further increases are likely if new Companies House verification procedures introduce additional barriers.
How Cybercheck helps to protect you against identity fraud
CTI solutions such as Cybercheck help by continuously monitoring for exposed credentials and personal data, providing early warning to stop attacks before they breach your defences. This wipes out the cybercriminals’ information advantage.
If you’re using Cybercheck, you can reliably identify dobber-related material by source indicators. Specifically, entries linked to Forum 45 or Forum 2000 are highly likely to originate from dobber activity.
Stolen personal data is the foundation of identity fraud
Dobbers continue to adapt to changes in data availability, security protocols, and regulatory landscapes.
Their persistence underscores the enduring demand for verified personal data as the foundation of identity fraud. It also highlights the need for ongoing vigilance and robust countermeasures by credit agencies, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies.
