Taiwanese 'Pharaoh' Arrested in US for Running Darknet Drug Market Incognito
Taiwanese national Rui-Siang Lin, known as 'Pharaoh', has been arrested in the US for operating the darknet marketplace Incognito. Lin led a double life, working at the St. Lucia embassy in Taipei while running the illicit platform.
Lin's arrest came after the FBI traced a Bitcoin wallet linked to his real name on one of Incognito's servers in January 2024. The marketplace, which had high security standards including an OPSEC quiz and PGP encryption, traded drugs excluding Fentanyl. Since late 2020, Incognito facilitated the sale of around $100 million worth of drugs, including large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine.
In summer 2023, Incognito's trading volume reached $5 million per month. Lin then shut down the site and attempted to blackmail users for $20,000 each. Despite his anti-surveillance views expressed on darknet forums, Lin continued to earn six-figure sums from Incognito in 2023 and even trained local police in 'Cyber Crime and Cryptocurrency' while working at the embassy.
Lin was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and faces potential life sentence for various drug and cybercrime offenses. The search for who registered the domains for Incognito's servers at Namecheap before Lin's arrest is ongoing.
