And then there's the money laundering. Yet another online service will connect a thief who has stolen credit card info with a willing mule. The thief need only use that mule's address and name to send him or her a laptop bought online, for example. The service then takes care of reselling that laptop and delivering a 30 to 50 percent cut of the proceeds to the thief, Baldwin says.

Splashy malware like might draw the headlines, but it's these kind of support services that really allow online crime to thrive. As long as they're around, malware will be too.