DARKMARK

could find a market; it was an opportunity for holders of credit-card databases to recruit a team doing cash out work (the critical job of going from ATM to ATM extracting cash from accounts). But the details of any deal were almost always hammered out in private messages held on encrypted icq networks. Once a deal was struck, it was back to the website to put in a request for the escrow service where administrators would ensure fair play.

The forum attracted ever more members, and business boomed. Key individuals acted as a bridge between Russian criminals and Western carders, but at the same time JiLsi noticed the geographical circle widening. Turkey was becoming an important cybercrime zone. The communities in Spain and Germany were growing very fast, while even those in France - whose carders felt, like most French people, more comfortable in a French-speaking environment even on the Web - brushed up on their English to enter the fray.

The Golden Age of DarkMarket was under way.