An internet criminal who helped run a "Facebook for fraudsters" has been
sentenced in London to four years and eight months in prison.
Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, was one of the masterminds behind a website for
trading stolen banking information called DarkMarket, which was linked to losses
of tens of millions of pounds.
The site was a "one-stop shop" for fraudsters, offering criminals a place to
trade credit card details and discuss how to carry out financial crimes,
Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
Subramaniam, who came to Britain from Sri Lanka as an asylum seeker in 1991,
was described as "pivotal" to DarkMarket's success. He was its most active user
until his arrest in July 2007, posting more than 1,000 messages on the site, the
court was told.
Prosecutor Sandip Patel said: "We say that he was at the heart of DarkMarket,
maybe not at the very moment of its inception but certainly soon afterwards."
