Five Years Behind Bars for DarkMarket Founder

Renukanth Subramaniam, the founder of the DarkMarket carding forum, was sentenced to 56 months in prison by a UK court last Friday. Another DarkMarket regular named John McHugh was jailed for two years on similar charges.

Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, lived a double life as a pizza delivery man in North London and a notorious carder known as "JiLsi." JiLsi was recognized in cyber-criminal underground as the founder of DarkMarket, a popular hangout for credit card thieves and identity fraudsters.

DarkMarket provided its users with the tools to sell and buy stolen credit card data and personal details, as well as programs and devices used for hacking and fraud. At its peak, the website had over 2,500 registered members.

The forum's popularity ended up attracting the attention of the FBI, which infiltrated it and ultimately used it to gather evidence against fraudsters. The sting operation led to more than sixty arrests in countries like US, UK, Turkey, Germany, France and Russia.

In mid-January, UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) announced that Renukanth Subramaniam pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. According to the agency, the carder owned three houses, but moved around a lot, crashed at friends and operated from Internet cafes in order to avoid being caught.

The BBC reports that Subramaniam, who originates from Sri Lanka, but has British citizenship since 2002, was sentenced on Friday at Blackfriars Crown Court to 46 months for conspiracy to defraud and an additional 10 months for five counts of mortgage fraud. John McHugh, 66, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, a former DarkMarket user who went by the online moniker "Devilman," was also sentenced at the same hearing. He received two years in prison for one count of conspiracy to defraud.

Prosecutor Sandip Patel referred to the carding forum as "a Facebook for fraudsters" and commented on the issue that fraudsters "were able to utilise modern technology in a way which gave them the capability to commit theft on an unprecedented scale [...]" Meanwhile, Judge John Hillen stressed that "Criminals should learn from this case that, even in cyberspace, there is no hiding place."