CVV Purchase Websites: What US Law Says

What a CVV is

A CVV is a 3-digit code on the back of most cards and a 4-digit code on American Express cards. It sits near the card number and expiry date. Banks use it to check that the person entering the card data holds the physical card.

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No site can sell CVV data

PCI DSS Requirement 3.2 bars merchants from storing the CVV after an authorization. The code is not printed on statements, not kept in a customer account, and not passed to a processor for later use. A site that lists CVV numbers for sale is offering data taken from cards it does not own. That is stolen property. The sale is fraud in every US state and under federal law. The buyer commits the offense at the point of purchase, not only when the data is used.

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What the law covers

18 U.S.C. 1029 targets fraud in connection with access devices. A card number with its verification code is an access device. Penalties reach 10 years in prison for a first offense and 15 years for aggravated cases, plus fines and restitution. 18 U.S.C. 1028A adds a mandatory 2-year consecutive term when identity theft is charged. Bank fraud counts under 18 U.S.C. 1344 can be added. State statutes bring further counts.

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How card data sellers operate, and how they fail

Many storefronts that advertise CVV sales sit on domains registered days or weeks before launch. They take payment in crypto, then ship dead data or nothing. The buyer has no recourse, because the contract cannot be enforced in court.

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• Issuers flag a charge when the cardholder disputes it. Chargeback and fraud reports link to the account, IP, device, and shipping address.
• Card networks and the FBI monitor carding forums. Investigators buy and sell on those boards under cover.
• Processors and chat platforms forward reports to the IC3 and to banks.
• Operators keep logs. Those logs become evidence in prosecutions.

The legal path for taking card payments

A business that needs to accept cards applies for a merchant account through a bank or a payment processor. The processor handles card data, the CVV, tokenization, and PCI DSS scope. Published rates from major processors run from 2.2 percent to 3.5 percent per transaction plus a per-item fee. No legitimate supplier sells CVV numbers. Anyone who claims to hold a stock of them is selling stolen data or running an advance-fee scheme.

Reporting

Cardholders report fraud to their issuer, then to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov. Suspected carding operations can be filed with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Cases with a confirmed loss of data go to the card network's fraud team.