Cybercrime sentencing needs to have a general deterrent effect on accused people and on others, a Circuit Court Judge said on Friday as she jailed a man for two years for setting up an internet site to sell malware and credit cards.
The accused man was investigated in Ireland by An Garda Síochána and also by the FBI in America and tracked down to his home address in Douglas and found to have €80,000 in cryptocurrencies as a result of online criminality.
Suleman Mazhar, who was previously of Moneygourney, Douglas, Cork, was sentenced by Judge Helen Boyle to two years’ imprisonment at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The judge recalled what was said earlier by the prosecution and defence and also took into consideration letters written to the court by the accused and his partner.
“Assessing the gravity of the offence, you set up and controlled a website selling false credit cards and malware and you made €80,000 in cryptocurrency. That is now worth €200,000.
“This was a deliberate criminal enterprise set up and run by you. You controlled and interacted on the website. There was no evidence it was to assist a criminal organisation – you yourself were the criminal organisation.
“In mitigation, you entered a plea of guilty in early course and saved the State the time and expense of a trial. This would have been a relatively long and complex case.
“You have computer skills and found it difficult to get work in that area. You have spent 10 months in custody (which will be taken into consideration in terms of the two-year sentence to be served).
“You found your time in prison to be difficult. You have not come to attention since. You are determined to rectify your mistakes and contribute positively to the community.
“Unfortunately I do not think the time you have already spent in custody is sufficient. And I need to consider general deterrence of cybercrime,” Judge Boyle said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where Detective Garda Wes Kenny outlined what happened back in July 2021.
The accused man was identified and €80,000 in cryptocurrencies was seized. Suleman Mazhar was questioned by gardaí and replied, “No comment”, to all questions at interview. The case was listed for trial but in advance of trial the accused entered a guilty plea in respect of a charge arising out of the investigation.
There was an application for forfeiture of the bitcoin to the State. While the value was put at €80,000 at the time of the offences, Det. Sgt Kenny testified that it is now worth €200,000.
The State did not object to the return of the defendant’s car and his computer, provided that he consented to it being wiped clear. There was no State application for forfeiture of €9,000 in an account held by the defendant in Germany, which was not deemed to be connected to the case.
Jane Hyland, senior counsel, said the accused had an interest in putting computer science to legitimate use but that he had fallen into this criminal behaviour for which he was very remorseful.
The defendant pleaded guilty to two charges – money-laundering and using a computer to commit theft.
The money-laundering referred to a period between June 2020 and July 2021, both within the State, knowing or believing cryptocurrency held in the Coinbase account in your name, was the proceeds of crime.
The second count referred to a period between September 2020 and March 2022 when he did dishonestly operate a computer with the intention of making a gain for yourself or another, or of causing loss to another by obtaining payments made in respect of goods and services offered for sale on a website bearing the address cashoutempire.com.
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