A 23-year-old man from Taiwan pleaded guilty this week to selling more than $100 million in illegal narcotics from a darknet website known as “Incognito Market,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Rui-Siang Lin founded the online narcotics bazaar in Oct. 2020 and ran the multimillion-dollar operation under the name “Pharoah” until its closing in March 2024, according to a DOJ news release.
Prosecutors said the online marketplace allowed users to anonymously buy and sell illegal drugs from anywhere on the globe with an internet connection and a Tor web browser, a tool that makes it difficult to track users.
“As ‘Pharoah’ – the leader of Incognito Market – Lin supervised all of its operations, including its employees, vendors and customers, and had ultimate decision-making authority,” the release noted.
Designed to manage seamless narcotics transactions across the web, Incognito Market ran in much the same way as a legitimate business, incorporating advertising, customer service and branding.
Once users logged in using a unique username and password, they were able to search thousands of listings for illegal drugs, like heroin, cocaine, LSD, MDMA, methamphetamines, oxycodone, ketamine and alprazolam.
Investigators said that prescription medication advertised as authentic very often was not.
In a Nov. 2023 undercover operation, a federal agent purchased oxycodone through Incognito Market, but that testing revealed the pills were fentanyl.
Drug vendors on the darknet site paid a fee to register and a commission of 5% on every sale, revenue that prosecutors say funded Lin’s “employee” expenses and computer servers.
To facilitate the millions of dollars in transactions, Incognito Market had its own “bank,” allowing users to deposit cryptocurrency into “bank accounts” that would transfer the agreed upon amount to a seller’s “bank account” minus Lin’s 5% fee.
“The bank enabled buyers and sellers to stay anonymous from each other,” federal officials said.
While profited in the millions off Incognito Market, authorities estimate that the darknet site sold more than $100 million in illegal narcotics, including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine, in less than four years.
The 23-year-old, who faces a maximum sentence of 35 years to life in federal prison, pled guilty to the following charges:
- One count of narcotics conspiracy
- One count of money laundering
- One count of conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication
He is scheduled to be sentenced in March 2025.
“While Lin profited millions of dollars from his sophisticated scheme, the community suffered,” Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim said. “Lin and his ‘Incognito Market’ exacerbated the opioid and fentanyl crisis and put the community in danger.”
