“Incognito Market” Owner Pleads Guilty For Operating One Of The Largest Illegal Narcotics Marketplaces On The Internet

Edward Y. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that RUI-SIANG LIN, a/k/a "Ruisiang Lin," a/k/a "林睿庠," a/k/a "Pharoah," a/k/a "faro," pled guilty to narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication in connection with LIN's operation and ownership of "Incognito Market," an online dark web narcotics marketplace that enabled its users to buy and sell illegal narcotics anonymously around the world. LIN pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27, 2025.

Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim said: "Rui-Siang Lin led a prolific online narcotics bazaar that sold more than $100 million of narcotics around the world. While Lin profited millions of dollars from his sophisticated scheme, the community suffered. Lin and his "Incognito Market" exacerbated the opioid and fentanyl crisis and put the community in danger. Lin now faces a lengthy term in prison."

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, Complaint, and statements made in public filings and in public court proceedings:

Incognito Market was an online narcotics bazaar that existed on the dark web. Incognito Market formed in October 2020. Since that time, and through its closing in March 2024, Incognito Market sold more than $100 million of narcotics - including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamines. Incognito Market was available globally to anyone with internet access and could be accessed using the Tor web browser on the "dark web" or "darknet." LIN operated the Incognito market under the online pseudonym "Pharoah" or "faro." 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 over every aspect of the multimillion-dollar operation.

Incognito Market was designed to foster seamless narcotics transactions across the internet and across the world and incorporated many features of legitimate e-commerce sites such as branding, advertising, and customer service. Upon visiting the site, users were met by a splash page and graphic interface, which is pictured below:

After logging in with a unique username and password, users were able to search thousands of listings for narcotics of their choice. Incognito Market sold illegal narcotics and misbranded prescription medication, including heroin, cocaine, LSD, MDMA, oxycodone, methamphetamines, ketamine, and alprazolam. An example of listings on Incognito market is below:

Listings included offerings of prescription medication that was advertised as being authentic but was not. For example, in November 2023, an undercover law enforcement agent received several tablets that purported to be oxycodone, which were purchased on Incognito Market. Testing on those tablets revealed that they were not authentic oxycodone at all and were, in fact, fentanyl pills.

Each listing on Incognito Market was sold by a particular vendor. To become an Incognito Market vendor, each vendor was required to register with the site and pay an admission fee. In exchange for listing and selling narcotics as a vendor on Incognito Market, each vendor paid 5% of the purchase price of every narcotic sold to Incognito Market. That revenue funded Incognito Market's operations, including paying "employee" salaries and for computer servers. LIN collected millions of dollars of profits from Incognito. To facilitate these financial transactions, Incognito Market had its own "bank," which allowed its users to deposit cryptocurrency on the site into their own "bank accounts." After a narcotics transaction was completed, cryptocurrency from the buyer's "bank account" was transferred to the seller's "bank account," less the 5% fee that Incognito collected. The bank enabled buyers and sellers to stay anonymous from each other. The bank's graphic interface is pictured below:

On March 12, 2020, before Incognito Market launched, LIN emailed himself a rough diagram of a darknet marketplace. That diagram, which is pictured below, contains features consistent with the operation of Incognito Market.

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RUI-SIANG LIN, 23, of Taiwan, pled guilty to one count of narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum potential sentence of life in prison; one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication, which carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.

The statutory minimum and maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Kim praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, and the New York City Police Department.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces ("OCDETF") operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-drive, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan B. Finkel and Nicholas Chiuchiolo are in charge of the prosecution.

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