January 15, 2010
-
News: Online Fraudster Apprehended
An online global criminal and former pizza server was found guilty of serious credit card fraud. Renukath Subramaniam masterminded the plot which included developing and managing the website DarkMarket. The site provided criminals with stolen credit card numbers and personal information on several thousand victims; a large portion from the U.K. Subramaniam operated the black market website from an internet cafe in Wembley, North London which was linked to hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal credit card transactions. The criminal mastermind was apprehended after an investigation by the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) led them to the cafe.
According to court documents, Subramaniam sold credit card information for more than $78 each to criminals across the globe including Russia, Turkey, Germany, Israel, United States, Canada, France, and Great Britain. Criminals were only allowed access to the site after being sponsored by an existing member. Subramaniam ran the site while working for a local pizza place delivering pizzas. He would stop in between deliveries to conduct his illegal credit card sales business. Authorities tagged the operation "shop window for criminality." Not only were the criminals able to purchase the information, but they were also able to buy the equipment used to steal from banks and cardholders.
Subramaniam acquired the credit card details from computer hackers; skimmers, a counterfeit ATM device: email scams; and, criminal gas station clerks. His accomplice, John McHugh, was also arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. Subramaniam pleaded guilty as well to international card fraud and mortgage fraud at the Blackfriars Crown Court. The site has been in operation since 2005 and is the biggest English speaking website to ever be shut down by the SOCA. It's not the first time Subramaniam has been in trouble with the law; he was associated with the Shadow Crew website which also sold stolen card details and was shut down by U.S. agents a number of years ago.