Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

An FBI Agent's 3 Years Undercover With Identity Thieves

Posted by timothy on from the doing-my-best-nelson-laugh dept.

snydeq writes "InfoWorld offers the inside story of how FBI Supervisory Special Agent J. Keith Mularski, aka Master Splynter, penetrated and took over DarkMarket.ws, the infamous underground carding board hacked by Max Butler and later transformed by Mularski into an FBI sting operation. The three-year tour sent Mularski deeper into the world of online computer fraud than any FBI agent before, resulting in 59 arrests and preventing an estimated $70 million in bank fraud before the FBI pulled the plug on the operation in October."

17 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Actually by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

    InfoWorld offers the inside story of how FBI Supervisory Special Agent J. Keith Mularski, aka Master Splynter, penetrated and took over DarkMarket.ws,

    How on earth are we supposed to believe it's the real Agent Mularski now?

  2. I like the way the government thinks by jollyreaper · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cool hacker name = geek culture reference + creative misspellings/capitalizations

    Sample names:
    Dark JedEYE
    FeloniouS MonK
    POPP3R SMRF
    TERRORByTE
    G\/\/B

    I predict you will hear of these handles in future busts.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:I like the way the government thinks by Compuser · · Score: 4, Funny

      George Washington Bridge? What's so cool about that.

    2. Re:I like the way the government thinks by Abreu · · Score: 5, Funny

      Those are also the initials for George W. Bush, a former president of the USA.

      Since we all are already trying very hard to forget him, I guess you get a pass

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    3. Re:I like the way the government thinks by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Funny

      Aw "terabyte" was my original handle...and I thought it was clever because it sounded like "terror."

      Well, if you wanna go for that retro feel you can always use killabyte.

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    4. Re:I like the way the government thinks by Daravon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't be silly. We all know the real supervillian is P3dobyte.

      --
      I traded all my mod points for these magic beans.
    5. Re:I like the way the government thinks by Dark+JedEYE · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh fuck.

    6. Re:I like the way the government thinks by jollyreaper · · Score: 2, Funny

      That was two V's.

      No, they were back and forward slashes, alternating. That's the beauty of the G\/\/B handle, you can try googling it but you'll never get it right! And I thought the "non-space non-printing character" hidden directory name in DOS was awesome.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    7. Re:I like the way the government thinks by dubbreak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Former president of the University of South Australia? I question how many people know that the current one is Professor Peter HÃj let alone the previous president.

      I assume the USA must be the Australian equivalent to MIT.

      --
      "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
    8. Re:I like the way the government thinks by genner · · Score: 2, Funny

      I predict you will hear of these handles in future busts.

      I find that highly unlikely. After all, these are computer geeks; they've probably never gotten near enough to any woman except their mother to...

      Oh...

      Never mind!

      They hand access to free credit cards. Some how I think women could stand to be around them.

  3. Re:How much more... by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 3, Funny

    FYI man, alright. You could sit at home, and do like absolutely nothing, and your name goes through like 17 computers a day. 1984? Yeah right, man. That's a typo. Orwell is here now. He's livin' large. We have no names, man. No names. We are nameless!

    HACK THE PLANET!

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  4. Re:Fencing by Grimbleton · · Score: 4, Funny

    My girlfriend would NOT approve if I stopped eating out.

  5. Re:Right, you are trying so hard to move on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    He's not the messiah, he's very naughty boy! Now, go away!

  6. Re:Fencing by Bemopolis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it really take that many calories to reinflate her?

    --
    "I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
  7. Re:How much more... by Maestro485 · · Score: 2, Funny

    While the FBI does investigate people who turn out to not have been criminals, that's more the exception than the rule.

    They leave that to the Department of Homeland Security ;-)

  8. Sure by copponex · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you can make 1,000 a day, tax free, working thirty hours a week. And if they throw you in prison, you can take some classes and write J# middleware when you get out.

    The downside is the anal raping. For most people, I mean.

  9. Re:How much more... by beav007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    FBI does do some drug crimes I guess, but usually by accident. They're more into the "cool" crimes like Murder, Sex, and Cyber.

    This post is so much entertaining (and possibly accurate) when read without context...