Card fraud is evolving, with amateur fraudsters able to “enrol” in online “classes” where they can learn how to use stolen card details to buy smaller-value items. That’s the claim from a UK tech firm, which says a new breed of opportunistic fraudster is learning how to commit crime via online tutorials and guides available on the so-called “dark web”.

Featurespace, a Cambridge-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm, showed Guardian Money examples and screengrabs of these tutorials, many of which will point people towards specific “carding” sites that sell people’s details.

Those affected will almost certainly include UK consumers who have been caught up in one or more of the major data breaches that have affected several big companies.

As one of the guides candidly explains, carding is “the art of ordering goods online using stolen credit cards”. Its author describes himself or herself as “an experienced carder, carding tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and rarely failing,” adding: “Want to know how to get free goods? Let’s get started!”

Featurespace says that with the help of privacy software, “opportunistic amateur fraudsters are now able to enrol in comprehensive classes and take modules – from tips on who the easiest issuers and banks are to defraud, all the way up to learning how to perpetrate large-scale credit card fraud”.

In March, banking body UK Finance revealed that so-called “card not present” or “remote purchase” fraud, where a criminal uses stolen card details to buy on the internet or over the phone, leapt by 24% to hit £506m in 2018.

“As more of this fraud is now being perpetrated by clued-up amateurs working out of their bedrooms, they are harder for financial institutions to spot and stop – their spending patterns often mimic those of their victims,” says the firm.Sean Neary, its senior product officer, adds that many of these criminals – dubbed “fraud boys” in some circles – focus on what they view as smaller, easier scams such as ordering pizzas and other relatively low-value items. “It’s a different demographic of people now in the fraud industry,” he says, adding: “This is the new way of buying stolen goods.”