Crypto News – Criminals on the Dark Web: How Did the FBI Trace the Incognito Market Owner?

Crypto News – Crypto Crime Crackdown: Incognito Market Owner Apprehended

Crypto News – The Manhattan United States Attorney’s Office released a statement on May 20th, stating that Rui-Siang Lin, also known online as “Pharoah,” was taken into custody at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on May 18 and made an appearance in federal court the following Monday.

For nearly four years, Rui-Siang Lin allegedly operated ‘Incognito Market,’ one of the largest online platforms for narcotics sales, conducting $100 million in illicit narcotics transactions and reaping millions of dollars in personal profits,

James Smith, FBI Assistant Director in Charge

Using Bitcoin and Monero as payment mechanisms, users were able to buy and sell drugs such as cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and prescription amphetamines like Adderall.

Lin could Face Life in Prison if Found Guilty

The Justice Department said that in order for the marketplace to keep 5% of each transaction and provide an escrow service, it required vendors and customers to use its own cryptocurrency services. According to the DOJ, the marketplace shut down in March of this year, just around the time of a previously publicized exit fraud in which millions of dollars worth of BTC and XMR belonging to customers were purportedly stolen.

Lin faced charges of money laundering, participating in a criminal business, and conspiring to distribute counterfeit medications. Lin is charged with criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory life sentence if found guilty. The maximum punishment for the drug conspiracy charge is life in prison.

How was Lin Caught?

Tracing cryptocurrency transfers from the Incognito Market to an anonymous centralized exchange account under Lin’s name, the FBI discovered Lin and purportedly linked him to the dark web website. Money from Incognito Market’s wallet was transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet under Lin’s control, according to FBI task force officer Mark Rubens during a deposition. The cash was subsequently deposited into an exchange account under Lin’s name.

The FBI claims that Lin’s cryptocurrency wallet sent BTC obtained from the Incognito Market to a “swapping service” in order to convert it for XMR, which was subsequently transferred into a cryptocurrency exchange account. Rubens detailed at least four transfers that the FBI reportedly traced.

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