DarkMarket_ Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You - Misha Glenny [108]
The cops duly gathered evidence, and of course Keith Mularski and Cha0 were still fellow administrators on DarkMarket. The operation lasted a full five months, as Bilal stored tiny scraps of evidence day by day. He ascertained that Çagatay’s group of intimates was relatively small and that his security was military in its precision. But along with those scraps, which might link Çagatay with any crime, Bilal had a second agenda: he was still trying to establish whether Çagatay had someone on the inside – while praying that he didn’t.
In late August Çagatay disappeared. Panic spread throughout the team that had been tracking him. Nonetheless, the journalist with Haber 7 continued to receive messages, not from Cha0, but from a certain Yarris, who seemed to have an intimate knowledge of Cha0’s activities. Mercifully for Bilal, Cha0 turned up in Istanbul as unexpectedly as he had departed. Nonetheless it was a warning as to how precarious the situation was, and Bilal made the decision to move on him in early September.
Back at the villa in Tuzla, surveillance had identified that one of the residents would go out every few days or so to fetch provisions. On 8th September out he came. Bilal Sen was back in Ankara, biting his nails as the SWAT team surrounding the building relayed to him all the events minute by minute over the phone. Then, as the shopper returned, they swooped – crashing into the villa and pinning down four other men on the floor. Around them were countless computers and dozens upon dozens of skimmers, moulds, PIN pads, POS devices and lots of cash. The raid was a triumph – nobody was hurt and all the suspects were arrested.
Strangely Cha0’s arrest had been anticipated a few days earlier on the message boards of Wired magazine after one of the journal’s writers had posted a story about DarkMarket on Wired’s website. One of the comments placed at the bottom came from somebody purporting to be Lord Cyric, the DM administrator. He claimed to be in direct touch with Cha0. And he added cryptically that some of Cha0’s subordinates might see the inside of a jail, but Cha0 never would.
Farewell, Cha0?
35
THE DEATH OF DARKMARKET
Whoever Cha0 really was, the unexpected arrest of Çagatay Evyapan appeared to sow panic among his fellow administrators on DarkMarket. On 16th September 2008, less than a week after the bust in Istanbul, Master Splyntr announced on the DM website that the police successes were fraying his and his fellow administrators’ nerves. It was a burden they no longer felt able to shoulder:
It is apparent that this forum … is attracting too much attention from a lot of the world services (agents of FBI, SS, and Interpol). I guess it was only time before this would happen. It is very unfortunate that we have come to this situation, because … we have established DM as the premier English speaking forum for conducting business. Such is life. When you are on top, people try to bring you down.
In the space of a week the premier criminal website of the English-speaking world was dead. Its followers were distraught. ‘DarkMarket was our bridge to business, and if that bridge is broken …’ lamented a member named Iceburg, posting on Wired magazine’s website. ‘Long live cashing and carding. Short live all the RATS and FBI and all stupid secret agencies who are not just ruining our lives and families, but are destroying everything we left behind.’
It seemed as though the cybercops had won. This being DarkMarket, though, the story wasn’t quite so simple.
Part IV
36
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
Stuttgart, September 2007
Officer Dietmar Lingel was pleased with his work. A week earlier his boss had given him the logs from the Canadian webmail