Ghostmarket Carders Sentenced in UK

Back in November we ran a story Schoolboy Hackers steal $18 Million regarding the case against the operators of the online credit card trading forum known as Ghostmarket. Today's post is just a quick follow-up to share details of their sentences from New Scotland Yard.



The defendants had harvested more than 130,000 compromised credit card numbers, and had successfully installed Zeus on more than 15,000 computers in 150 countries, gathering more than 4 million lines of data from the compromised computers.

The Metropolitan Police of London sentenced the Ghostmarket criminals on March 2, 2011, as they share in this Press Release.

An audio clip by Detective Inspector Colin Wetherill explains the accomplishment.


[A] Gary Paul Kelly, 21 (14.04.89) unemployed of Clively Avenue, Clifton, Swinton, Manchester -- sentenced to Five Years

Kelly was arrested on November 3, 2009 as a result of a search warrant of his home. Detectives were able to build a working copy of the GhostMarket forum from the database files recovered from Kelly's PC.



[B] Nicholas Webber, 19 (10.10.91) a student of Cavendish Road, Southsea; -- sentenced to Five Years


[C] Ryan Thomas, 18 (8.7.92) a web designer of Howard Road, Seer Green, Beaconsfield, Herts; -- sentenced to Four Years

Webber and Thomas were arrested on October 12, 2009 while partying in a five star London hotel, paid for with stolen credit cards. A big hint that they may be associated with the crime of carding and the GhostMarket website was that both were in possession of GhostMarket business cards in their name, calling the site "A new era in virtual marketing" and stating "I'm a carder, ask about me..."

After being released on bail, the pair were rearrested at the Gatwick airport on January 29, 2010 as they returned from a trip to Palma, Majorca.


[D] Shakira Ricardo, 21 (14.11.89) unemployed of Flat 13, J Shed, Kings Road, Swansea SA1; -- sentenced to 18 Months.

A fifth defendant, Samantha Worley, pleaded guilty earlier and received a sentence of 200 hours community service.

Full details of the charges against the five are available from The Metropolitan Police of London