Teen cybercrime forum boss jailed

[Arkos]

A UK teenager who ran a prolific cybercrime forum from home has been jailed for five years.

Nick Webber, 19, maintained the Ghostmarket.net market which boasted 8,000 memberships and facilitated a range of crimes including the sale of stolen credit card and personal details.

Police recovered the details of thousands of credit cards from Webber's machines when he was busted in October 2009 after trying to use a counterfeit credit card to pay for a hotel stay. Confronted by mounds of evidence Webber, from Southsea, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to fraud.

Southwark Crown Court heard that members of the gang may have defrauded banks and individuals anywhere between 12m and 20m, depending on whose estimates you believe. In court, Ghostmarket.net was described as a supermarket for cybercrooks, providing guides on how to commit cybercrimes as well as a marketplace for stolen wares.

The personal details of around 65,000 victims were traded through the site.

Even after his release on bail, Webber continued to engage in cybercrime, an aggravating feature that led to a far tougher sentence than might otherwise have been the case.

Three other convicted suspects were convicted in the same case. Gary Kelly, 21, from Manchester, was also jailed for five years after he also pleaded guilty to the same fraud charges as Webber along with conspiracy to make or supply articles for use in fraud and conspiracy to cause unauthorised modification to computers.

Ryan Thomas, 18, from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, who acted as the site admin for Ghostmarket.net, was jailed for four years. Shakira Ricardo, 21, from Swansea, was imprisoned for 18 months after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and handling criminal property, the BBC reports.

Webber and Thomas jumped bail soon after their initial arrests in December 2009 before they were captured in Majorca and returned to the UK, The Guardian adds.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/03/uk_carders_jailed/

 

[scori]

lol wtf , this is scary too

 

[dark4s]

can people get in trouble for simply running a forum? even if you aren't actually committing any fraud? just handling pay-for adverts etc?

i can see acting as an escrow something which can get you in trouble though.

 

[SQLi]

I would think yes..

Providing a trading environment is risky business, this forum has been around a while though so lets hope it stays this way

 

[capostatus]

damn!

 

[skazzi]

the big sentence is not because of carding, its because of making the business possibile

 

[pekelder]

damn thats fucked |XD

 

[varanu]

Nick Webber is N2C right ?

 

[sa3er]

yes he was N2C
as i know he was a carder no just a forum admin ..
he was taslking about doing a lots of car tires and light projectors and etc ... (doing odd stuffs)

 

[infraud]

it old news - no?

 

[Doozer]

Stupid kid.Posting his pics and pics of carded stuff online.

 

[infraud]

Teen cybercrime forum..

gays cybercrime forum..
BDSM cybercrime forum..

 

[varanu]

yes he was N2C
as i know he was a carder no just a forum admin ..
he was taslking about doing a lots of car tires and light projectors and etc ... (doing odd stuffs)

Also remember him bragging of having parties and stuff in carded hotels... And that's where they finally caught him as I see in the article.

 

[cr00k]

He went in, and was cocky as fuck. He was a good friend of mine and we never thought hed get upto 5 years. He was confident, with his lawyer that he was going to make it out within a year.

I guess he lost that one, fuck. Was a good guy, but went waaaay to far with carding.
Started little, cause he had a bank fuck him over so he had a reason to card, but he spoiled himself.

 

[varanu]

He was a kid, how could any bank fuck him over ? Since he was probably a minor when he started.
Still, sad news whenever someone gets such a long sentence.

 

[londoncash]

nc2 gone. thats deep 5 years, i thought the uk was 18 mounths slap on risk