FBI Says Dark Market Sting Netted 56 Arrests

narramissic writes "A two-year undercover FBI sting operation targeting online 'carder' forums hosted on the DarkMarket.ws Web site has netted 56 arrests and prevented about $70 million in fraud losses, the FBI said Thursday. DarkMarket.ws was widely used by online scammers to buy and sell stolen credit card numbers, other financial information, and even the devices used to make fake banking cards. Before it was shut down earlier this month, the Web site had registered more than 2,500 members. Although Dark Market was thought to have been administered by a criminal going by the name Master Splyntr, German Public Radio reported on Monday that the FBI had been running a sting operation on the site since late 2006, and that Master Splyntr was actually an FBI agent named J. Keith Mularski." Of course, they say it in German; non-German speakers may want to consult the Babelfish.

Comments

Re:only 56 arrests?

[IndustrialComplex]

Err, you actually think someone is looking for bin laden?

Yes. If you think otherwise, then you really need to loosen the tinfoil.

This is great news but...

[madsheep]

This is great news and I am happy it was a successful sting operation. Bringing these guys down is something we all like to see and it helps make a lot of hard work of different people pay off. However, there is one item that has been mentioned a few times in other articles that blows my mind on this. From the Wired article:

The German report confirm rumors that have swirled around DarkMarket since late 2006, when uber-hacker Max Ray Butler cracked the site's server and announced to the underground that he'd caught Master Splynter logging in from the NCFTA's office on the banks of the Monongahela River.

In other words they were completely outed, although unsuccessfully, prior to the German report. They were actually hacked and exposed two years ago. That's pretty bad operations security. Never run/manage your sting site from where you really are.. well at least if that plays ties back directly to law enforcement. That's kind of like if a DEA agent showed up to a drug buy and parked his marked police car behind the dumpster nearby. ::face palm::

Re:The question.

[ConceptJunkie]

Thieves, politicians, corporate executives, you name it...

Re:I don't get it

[Dachannien]

Most of those "users" were probably spambots, if it's anything like the forums I maintain. :P

As for the entrapment angle, this one's easy. The FBI guy sets up the site, drops a few whispers around the Tubes, and gets people to show up. Maybe the FBI has some controlled info to spread around so that people get interested, but they can turn those accounts off quickly enough that it doesn't spend a lot of taxpayer money.

After a while, people start exchanging their own stolen credit card info for cash using the site as an intermediary. They discuss their own criminal exploits, and they unwittingly provide the information needed to trace themselves to their physical location, because they now trust the site and don't bother using a proxy for anonymity. The FBI guy only has to stay involved in a general way, making his presence felt as the site's maintainer, and everyone else will continue willingly providing evidence against themselves without the direct prodding of the FBI guy.

And that's not entrapment.

Re:agent identities

[MasterOfMagic]

* woosh *

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_is_babby_formed_How_girl_get_pragnent

Re:agent identities

[Toll_Free]

lol.

You really need to brush up on what entrapment is.

They where NOT trying to entrap you. Selling you narcotics and then arresting you for owning them is NOT entrapment.

Your story is suspect anyway. Any cop worth (his / her) salts isn't going to be telling you that you are a good boy afterwards for not taking the bait.

Looking up IP space for the police? LOL. Heard of AOL dialup?

This post stinks of bullshit. I'm removing my shoes and walking on. snopes couldn't even stand for this one.

--Toll_Free