A 23-year-old man has been arrested in New York and charged with owning, operating and profiting from a $100 million dark web drug market after authorities say they traced cryptocurrency transfers revealing his true identity.
Roy Siang Lin, known online as “Pharaoh,” was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on May 18 and appeared in federal court on Monday, May 20, the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote American of Manhattan in a press release.
The FBI’s deputy director in charge added: “For nearly four years, Rui-Siang Lin allegedly ran the ‘Incognito Marketplace,’ one of the largest online drug sales platforms, where he made $100 million. dollars in illicit drug transactions and brought in $100 million. illicit drug transactions. » Millions of dollars in personal profits. James Smith.
Incognito Market was an onion-based e-commerce platform accessed using the Tor web browser – called the “dark web” or “dark web”.
It allowed users to buy and sell drugs, including cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and prescription amphetamines such as Adderall, using Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) as payment methods .
The marketplace required buyers and sellers to use its cryptocurrency services so it could deduct 5% from each purchase and provide an escrow service, the Justice Department claimed.
The DOJ noted that the market was shut down in March of this year, coinciding with a previously reported exit scam that allegedly stole millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin and XMR from customers.
Lin was charged with engaging in a criminal enterprise, drug conspiracy, conspiracy to sell misbranded drugs and money laundering.
If convicted, Lane faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the criminal enterprise charge. The drug conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The Justice Department ordered the seizure of cryptocurrencies found in Lin’s Binance and Kraken accounts.
The FBI Tracked Cryptocurrency Transfers
The FBI found Lin and alleged his ties to the dark web in part by tracking cryptocurrency transfers on the incognito market to an anonymous central cryptocurrency exchange account in Lin’s name.
In his testimony, FBI task force officer Mark Robbins said a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Lin received funds from the Incognito Market wallet that were then sent to an exchange account in Lin’s name .
Robbins reported at least four transfers tracked by the FBI that allegedly showed Lin’s crypto wallet sending bitcoins derived from the crypto market to an “exchange service” to be exchanged for XMR – which was then deposited into a bank account. cryptocurrency exchange that the FBI has claimed responsibility for. Lean Account.
about: US authorities bust $73 million cryptocurrency scam, arrest two
The exchange provided the FBI with Lin’s Taiwanese driver’s license used to open the account as well as an email address and phone number, Robbins wrote.
The FBI claimed to have linked the email address and phone number to a Namecheap account that used funds from Lin’s alleged cryptocurrency wallet and account to purchase a domain for a site promoting the incognito marketplace .
زعم الإيداع أن الودائع في حساب تبادل العملات المشفرة الخاص بـ Lin نمت مع Incognito Market، من حوالي 63000 دولار في عام 2021 إلى ما يقرب من 4.2 مليون دولار على ار عام 2023، وشهد حساب التبادل الثاني غير المسمى إيداع 4.5 مليون دولار ين يوليو ونوفمبر من Last year.
review: $3.4 Billion in Bitcoin in a Box of Popcorn – The Story of the Silk Road Pirates
