WA man jailed after global Genesis Market shut down – Security

A Western Australian man has been jailed for two years after fraudulently using stolen vouchers from the Genesis Market dark web.

The 36-year-old was found with 20,000 stolen documents from Genesis Market, which was closed following an FBI sting last year.

At the time of its shutdown, Genesis Market provided access to more than 1.5 million affected devices, including logins, browsing history, passwords and other sensitive data.

According to the Australian Federal Police, which assisted in the international operation, the person had access to approximately 20,000 compromised credentials from the websites of Australian financial institutions and government agencies.

He also had information stolen from a “major” Australian business in a ransomware attack.

The WA man was one of the 10 Australians The arrests were made in an investigation dubbed ‘Operation Zinger’, which was assisted by the NSW Police Force, Victoria Police, Queensland Police Service and the Western Australian Police Force.

The man pleaded guilty in October 2023 to two counts of possessing or controlling data, intending that data…to commit or facilitate the commission of an offense and two counts of causing loss by deception.

The maximum penalty for these offenses is imprisonment of three years and seven years respectively. The WA man received two years, with a non-parole period of 17 months.

Grand theft and traffic violations

Before his arrest last year, the man used stolen information to siphon $17,500 from the couple’s superannuation and other financial accounts.

He also used the stolen information to assume another person’s identity, AFP claimed.

As a result, the man opened several bank accounts using the victim’s information, naming him as the driver of a car that had four traffic violations and unpaid phone bills.

In addition, the man also pleaded guilty to two charges relating to false information submitted in a passport application for an assumed identity, which was disclosed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

AFP Detective Inspector Andrea Coleman commented that it could take “years for (cybercrime victims) to regain control of their personal information”.

“It can damage their credit scores, and affect their ability to apply for loans or employment,” he said.

“(The results) are a reminder that the dark web is not known and those who use it to benefit themselves at the expense of other innocent members of our society will be arrested and prosecuted.”

Earlier this year, a 32-year-old Melbourne man was also sentenced to 150 hours of community service for buying stolen data.

Before this, a 25-year-old man from Brisbane was sentenced to more than two years in prison button for buying 1000 bots with stolen login details from Genesis Marketplace.