A Southwark Crown Court has sentenced Nicholas Webber for five years in custody after he admitted in the court in December to being the administrator of crime forum GhostMarket.net. Other young members who worked with him have also been punished.
Three teenagers founded and operated internet crime forums which the court called "Crimebook".
Webber is a 19-year old ex-public schoolboy. While passing the sentence Judge John Price warned that the sentence could have been much longer had Webber and his accomplices been older.
Judge Price said, "You are all very young people, and I take the very much into account. Were you very much older, your sentences would have to be much longer."
According to the police, the crime forum offered various things to facilitate online crime including credit card data, credit-card verification programs and hacking tutorials. Police said they found 132,073 stolen credit card numbers from the forums, amounting to about £15m losses for people.
Webber is believed to have earned about £40,000 from the website. However, his defence lawyer Tyrone Smith maintained the site was intended to earn attention and notoriety than money.
Other young people to have been punished are Ryan Thomas, 18, Gary Paul Kelly, 21, Shakira Ricardo, 21, and her partner Samantha Worley, 22.
