Taiwanese operator of Incognito Market sentenced to 30 years over $105M darknet drug ring

A Taiwanese man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for running Incognito Market, a major darknet drug marketplace that sold more than $105 million in illegal drugs. Rui-Siang Lin, who operated under the alias “Pharaoh,” led the platform from 2020 until its closure in March 2024, with the site handling tens of thousands of drug transactions and more than 400,000 buyers and 1,800 vendors.

The operation, which used crypto payments and an internal “bank” to keep buyers and sellers anonymous, sold a range of narcotics worldwide, including fentanyl-laced pills; Lin allegedly stole over $1 million in user funds when winding down. The sentence also includes five years of supervised release and a forfeiture of about $105 million, following Lin’s guilty plea in December 2024, according to the DoJ press release. The U.S.

Attorney described Incognito Market as one of the world’s largest online narcotics marketplaces, with Lin’s leadership linked to at least one tragic overdose and widespread harm.