An Average of 225 "Data Lookup" Listings Appear Monthly on the Dark Web

BI.ZONE experts analyzed over 3,500 listings on shadow marketplaces offering services for gathering information about people—so-called "пробив" or data lookups. Every fifth offer (21%) promises a complete dossier on a specific individual.

Price Segments and Services

Per the researchers, prices for these lookups range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of rubles. The market features three main price segments.

The cheapest tier (100–500 rubles) covers basic checks using one or two parameters—for example, finding a person's full name and date of birth from a phone number or email address.

The majority of offers (75%) fall into the mid-range segment at 1,000 to 1,500 rubles. For this price, sellers promise not only to identify a person from contact details but also to compile a dossier from various databases and registries, including closed ones. The primary information source is data leaks, both public and paid.

The premium segment (3,000 to 30,000 rubles) includes comprehensive "turnkey dossiers"—summaries of information from all major databases and registries. Criminals promise to provide data on banking transactions, border crossings, and legal entities associated with the individual.

Market Trends and Risks

In 2025, the average price for a data lookup increased by 4–5%. This increase stems from a reduction in cheap offers, replaced by more comprehensive services with higher price tags. At the same time, one in five listings is fake: after receiving prepayment, the seller simply disappears.

Threat actors regularly post offers targeting company employees, asking them to assist in obtaining confidential data for a reward. Experts warn that for employees, such insider activity constitutes a serious legal violation with the risk of criminal liability.

Specialized Geolocation Services

Services for the illegal acquisition of geolocation data and call detail records command premium prices. For a simple log of calls and SMS, the average asking price is 22,000 rubles. Slightly more expensive (around 30,000 rubles) is a "flash"—a one-time location determination using geolocation data. The most expensive service (37,000 rubles) is a georeferenced detail report: a log of calls and messages indicating the location for each contact.

Security Implications

Per BI.ZONE specialists, threat actors are publishing new database leaks on shadow resources at a steady rate. A critically large amount of information about virtually every person has already accumulated in public view, and fraudsters use this data for social engineering and other attacks.

Researchers emphasized that anyone can be targeted by threat actors. Users should remain vigilant and not give in to provocations, even if a caller or someone in a messaging app references personal and seemingly private information.