'Itinerant loner' was mastermind behind global criminal marketplace
14 January 2010
A British passport holder is facing jail for masterminding one of the most pernicious online criminal websites in the world. It is estimated that the site, DarkMarket, enabled criminals to collaborate on deals which caused losses worth tens of millions of pounds. So far around 60 arrests linked to DarkMarket have been made worldwide.
Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, who used the online nickname 'JiLsi', pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at Blackfriars Crown Court. Another DarkMarket member, John McHugh, who used the online nickname 'devilman', pleaded guilty to the same charge. Both men will be sentenced in due course.
DarkMarket provided a sophisticated, invitation-only service for criminals to buy and sell compromised credit card information and anything else they needed to commit financial crime. It also offered training in fraud techniques, including online bank account takeovers, and money laundering. There was a business-like hierarchy, with an elite core in the management positions. Further down the hierarchy, reviewers would assess potential new members for suitability. At the bottom end of the ladder, new members would have to prove their criminal credentials and ability before they were accepted as full members.
The case against the men was brought after an international investigation - involving SOCA, the FBI and the United States Secret Service - resulted in DarkMarket being closed down in October 2008. The site had been infiltrated by undercover officers and by the time it closed down one of them, an FBI agent using the online nickname MastrSplyntr, had become the most powerful individual in the forum.
Sharon Lemon, Deputy Director of SOCA, said:
"Subramaniam was a loner with a modest lifestyle. He owned three houses but was largely itinerant, moving around between the homes of friends and family members and never staying in one place for long.
"The key to investigations of this sort is finding the evidence to connect the online persona with a living breathing person. Subramaniam went to great trouble to hide his activity. He seems to have thought that carrying data around on memory sticks and using internet cafes would somehow protect him from scrutiny. He was wrong.
"A financial investigation is underway into the money these men made from their crimes. It's hard to put a figure on the sums involved now, but we believe that Subramaniam suffered a personal loss of £100,000 in one go linked to deals on a single lost memory stick. SOCA is determined to recover what it can from them. Things don't end with a conviction."