Lanka credit card fraudster facing long jail term for running 'online shop for criminals'

London, Jan.15 (ANI): A Sri Lankan, who was the founding member of a global criminal website responsible for tens of millions of pounds of credit card crime, is facing a lengthy jail term.

Thirty-three-year-old Renukanth Subramaniam set up Darkmarket, which enabled criminals to buy the stolen credit card details of hundreds of thousands of people, many from Britain.

According to The Times, iIn between delivering pizzas he used an Internet café in Wembley, northwest London, to create the site that was described by investigators as a "shop window for criminality".

Fraudsters could learn how to steal personal information from banks and individuals and buy the equipment to do so. Darkmarket, containing 2,000 names, was used by lone criminals and organised gangs in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Britain, Israel, the US, Canada and France.

It is the biggest English-speaking site that the Serious Organised Crime Agency has ever taken offline. Hackers as well as criminals stole credit card details taken from false ATM fronts and by spam e-mails, recording the details when cards were used at petrol stations. Each one sold for about 50 pounds.

Subramaniam, from Colombo, Sri Lanka, came to Britain in 1993. He set up the site in 2005 after another that he belonged to - Shadow Crew- was infiltrated by US agents and shut down.

This week at the Blackfriars Crown Court, Subramaniam admitted conspiracy to defraud and mortgage frauds. John McHugh, 66, also admitted conspiracy to defraud. The pair will be sentenced later. (ANI)