FBI Takes Down “Dark Market” Cyber Criminal Ring   - 1,181 Views,

The FBI has announced that they have taken down a group of cyber criminals known as “Dark Market”. The bust was the culmination of a two-year undercover operation, with an FBI agent who called himself “Master Splyntr” infiltrating the Dark Market.

Members of the Dark Market inner circle hung out in a private online forum, where they bought and sold the fruits of their illegal online activites, such as stolen usernames and passwords, credit card data, etc..

During its heyday, Dark Market boasted more than 2500 members, one of whom was, unbeknownst to the rest, was an FBI operative. This FBI agent, who went by the name “Master Splyntr”, was not only one of Dark Market’s most respected members, but he was actually an administrator of the Dark Market forums site!

Explains FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry, “What’s worked for us in taking down spy rings and entire mob families over the years - embedding an undercover agent deep within a criminal organization - worked beautifully in taking down Dark Market. And once again, our global partnerships paid off.”

The agent who posed as Master Splyntr spent hours nearly ever day in the forums, and saw many deals go down. While he saw millions of dollars being exchanged, he also provented many more millions of dollars in losses “by tipping off potential cyber crime targets.”