Former admin of Darkmarket identity theft trading site pleads guilty

 

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Posted on 15 Jan 2010 at 12:41

Londoner Renukanth Subramaniam yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and five counts of furnishing false information. He has yet to be sentenced, but will certainly face time in prison, up to a maximum of 10 years under British law.

Described as "Facebook for frausters" by the mainstream media, Darkmarket.ws was in fact something completely different. A closed forum with a select, carefully-vetted membership of around 2,500, Darkmarket was a trading forum for stolen credit card information, as well as tools and services to help its members obtain and use this information. These included botnet rental, credit card blanks and tip sheets on the best ways to install a card skimmer in an cashpoint.

According to The Guardian, the site even provided financial transfer services to its members, described by the judge as being "like a PayPal for criminals".

Operating out of an Internet cafe in Wembley, Subramaniam, known as JiLsi, was an administrator on the site until a memory stick was stolen from him, compromising the site's security and leading to his demotion to the subordinate position of reviewer.

The fall of Darkmarket began when it was infiltrated by FBI agent Keith Mularski, known as MasterSplynter to the Darkmarket community, who rose through the ranks to become the site's administrator. According to a report by Rocber MacMillan for itbusiness.ca, MasterSplynter was alleged to be an uncover agent as early as 2006, although many admins were similarly accused at the time.

Thanks to his iron resolve and clever handling of the situation, Mularski retained control of the site until 2008, when the FBI closed down the site after the arrest of fellow administrator ChaO, also known as Turkish hacker Cagatay Evyapan.

Similar shady transactions continue to occur on numerous websites and IRC channels, but thanks to the competence and dedication of law enforcement officers and ethical hackers around the world, the Internet is becoming a more dangerous place for fraudsters.

Author: Kat Orphanides