Incognito Market founder sentenced to 30 years

Rui-Siang Lin was sentenced to 30 years in U.S. prison for running Incognito Market, a dark web platform that processed $105M in illegal drug sales using crypto and anonymity tools.

Rui-Siang Lin, a 24-year-old Taiwanese national known as "Pharaoh," has been sentenced to 30 years in U.S. federal prison for operating the dark web marketplace Incognito Market. Active from October 2020 to March 2024, the platform processed over $105 million in illegal drug sales, facilitating more than 640,000 transactions for hundreds of thousands of buyers worldwide. Lin managed all aspects of the marketplace, including its infrastructure, finances, vendors, and customers. He used cryptocurrencies and advanced anonymity tools to obscure the platform’s operations. Law enforcement identified Lin through blockchain analysis, undercover purchases, and domain records containing his real information. Upon the marketplace’s closure, Lin stole at least $1 million from user accounts and attempted to extort vendors and buyers. The court ordered the forfeiture of $105 million and imposed a five-year supervised release. Prosecutors described Lin as one of the most prolific drug traffickers, linking his actions to at least one death and the worsening opioid crisis.