FBI Says Dark Market Sting Netted 56 Arrests 130
narramissic writes "A two-year undercover FBI sting operation targeting online 'carder' forums hosted on the DarkMarket.ws Web site has netted 56 arrests and prevented about $70 million in fraud losses, the FBI said Thursday. DarkMarket.ws was widely used by online scammers to buy and sell stolen credit card numbers, other financial information, and even the devices used to make fake banking cards. Before it was shut down earlier this month, the Web site had registered more than 2,500 members. Although Dark Market was thought to have been administered by a criminal going by the name Master Splyntr, German Public Radio reported on Monday that the FBI had been running a sting operation on the site since late 2006, and that Master Splyntr was actually an FBI agent named J. Keith Mularski." Of course, they say it in German; non-German speakers may want to consult the Babelfish.
agent identities (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The question. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I don't get it (Score:3, Interesting)
Not everyone that visits that kind of forum is engaged in criminal activity. They can only arrest people they have proof against.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:agent identities (Score:3, Interesting)
Selling you narcotics itself in an of itself is not entrapment. Repeatedly pestering you to buy narcotics until you do is entrapment.
Cops are, by and large, dumb. Local (exclusing large cities) and state cops are typically dumber than federal agents. Even for TFA, the FBI was logging into their server from a government IP block. I'm typically skeptical, but I don't see anything glaringly inconsistent with this anecdote. And quite frankly, there have been many such sting operations, and I wouldn't be surprised if a /.er got to experience it firsthand.
Actually, I wouldn't be too surprised if a /.er got caught by such an operation and thrown in prison either...