Melbourne man pleads guilty to buying stolen data on Genesis Market

A 32-year-old Melbourne man was sentenced to 150 hours of community work on Friday for buying stolen data over Genesis Market before it was seized last year.

AFP arrested the man at his Endeavour Hills house in April 2023. Credit: AFP.

The Melbourne County Court handed down the 12-month community corrections order after the man pleaded guilty to one count of possessing data with the intent to commit a computer offence, according to an Australian Federal Police (AFP) statement.

The Endeavour Hills man was one of ten Genesis Market users arrested in April last year; the same day a multi-national law enforcement coalition took over the invitation-only .onion domain. 

While conducting a search warrant, AFP seized a laptop and mobile phone found to contain approximately 650 compromised credentials. 

Subsequent forensic examination of the devices revealed the man had purchased several ‘bots’ used to capture credentials that could then be utilised in attacks such as account takeovers.

Genesis Market offered access to more than 1.5 million compromised computers at the time it was seized. 

The crackdown against it - dubbed "Operation Cookie Monster" - was led by the FBI with the assistance of AFP, NSW Police Force, Victoria Police, Queensland Police Service, Western Australia Police Force and policing agencies in several other countries. 

AFP acting assistant commissioner cyber command Chris Goldsmid said in the statement that cyber criminals were often not as anonymous as they thought.

He added, “To anyone seeking to buy or sell stolen information online I want to warn you that we are working every day with our law enforcement partners, at home and abroad, and we will find you and ensure that you face justice."

In December last year, a 25-year-old Brisbane man was also sentenced for buying data over Genesis Market. 

He pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorised access to restricted data and two counts of possessing data with the intent to commit a computer offence.

The Brisbane District Court sentenced him to two years and six months, but he was released on a $2000 recognisance order on the condition he was of good behaviour for five years and subject to two years’ probation.