- Rui-Siang Lin was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for operating the dark web narcotics marketplace Incognito Market, which facilitated over $105 million in sales across 640,000 transactions.
- The platform used an internal crypto “bank” system, charging a 5% commission on deals and generating over $6 million in profit for Lin before he shut it down and stole at least $1 million in user funds.
- While running the marketplace from St. Lucia, Lin once led a cybercrime training session for local police and later attempted to extort his own users by threatening to leak their transaction data.
- U.S. authorities emphasized that technology like blockchain does not provide a license to operate illegal narcotics businesses.
A Taiwanese national was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week for masterminding a cryptocurrency-powered dark web narcotics empire that spanned over three years. Rui-Siang Lin, operating under the alias “Pharoah,” ran Incognito Market, which facilitated more than $105 million in drug sales to over 400,000 buyers worldwide, according to a statement from federal prosecutors.
The platform functioned as a Tor-accessible marketplace where vendors conducted over 640,000 transactions in narcotics like cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-laced pills. It utilized an internal cryptocurrency banking system where users deposited funds, with Lin taking a 5% commission that netted him over $6 million in profits.
Lin pled guilty to charges including narcotics distribution conspiracy and money laundering. However, his criminal enterprise had a deadly consequence, as a 27-year-old Arkansas resident died after taking purported oxycodone purchased on the site that was laced with fentanyl.
Meanwhile, Lin conducted a bizarre double life, once leading a “Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency” training for police in St. Lucia. Consequently, he ultimately shuttered Incognito Market in 2024 after stealing at least $1 million from user deposits.
He then attempted to extort vendors and buyers by threatening to publish their transaction histories unless they paid him. Homeland Security Investigations arrested Lin at John F. Kennedy International Airport in May 2024 following a multi-agency investigation.
Ari Redbord of TRM Labs told Decrypt the sentence “reflects how courts now view large darkweb markets as core infrastructure of the illicit underbelly of the crypto ecosystem, not fringe platforms.” In addition to the prison term, Lin was ordered to forfeit $105 million.
✅ Follow BITNEWSBOT on Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X.com, and Google News for instant updates.
