Wednesday 9th March 2011
A group of teenagers were jailed last week for running a £16.2 million internet crime forum.
Southwark Crown Court heard how the gang of three masterminded the ‘criminal equivalent of Facebook’.Nicholas Webber and Ryan Thomas, who were 18 and 17 at the time, traded thousands of credit card details across a network of 8,000 users worldwide. They have been sentenced for five and four years respectively.Webber, of Southsea, Hampshire, the owner and founder of Gh0stMarket.net, was arrested in 2009 along with site administrator Thomas, after attempting to pay a £1,000 hotel bill using stolen card details.The Guardian reports that the fraud has been linked to losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds on 65,000 bank accounts.After seizing Webber’s laptop, police discovered details of 100,000 stolen credit cards and a trail back to their website. The pair skipped bail that December and fled to Majorca, but were arrested on their return to Britain in January last year. The court heard how Webber, the son of a former Guernsey politician, used offshore bank accounts in Costa Rica to process funds. The former public school pupil threatened to blow up the head of the police e-crimes unit after his first arrest, tracing officers’ addresses online.According to the Guardian, the site contained manuals such as "14 ways of hacking credit cards" and "running cards on eBay" and information on staying anonymous. It also sold hacking software and instructions on how to manufacture crystal meth and explosives.Another man, Gary Kelly, 21, was also sentenced to five years for his part in the scam. A software designer, Kelly hacked into thousands of computer systems stealing valuable personal details.Police raided Kelly's house in Swinton, Manchester, in November 2009, and he was found to be living in squalor, despite making £43,000 for his troubles. He allegedly taught himself how to use computers after leaving home at 15, working from a system he had built himself which even had missing keys.Another Gh0stMarket member, Shakira Ricardo, 21, of Swansea, received an 18-month sentence after admitting conspiracy to commit fraud and acquiring criminal property. She was described in court as a junior but trusted member of the website with an "appetite to learn" the ropes of computer hacking. Her ability to control fraudulent activities from her iPhone was described as "cutting-edge".Ricardo and Samantha Worley, 22, a hairdresser, used two Halifax bank accounts to launder money from the website. Worley admitted one charge of acquiring criminal property and was sentenced to 200 hours' unpaid work at a previous hearing.Manchester debt firm is liquidated owing creditors over £2.2m
Wednesday 11th August 2010
Bankrupt football legend probed by police over loan fraud
Monday 2nd August 2010
Mortgage broker ordered to repay £1.5m of client money used to pay off debts
Wednesday 14th July 2010
Barclays lifts lid on banking write-offs
Wednesday 20th February 2008
Send To Friend Print
RSS Feed News Archive If you have any queries about this news story or our news section, please contact us
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment