A 20-year-old Briton who allegedly made millions after creating a dark web marketplace when he was 17 has appeared in a Dutch court.
The British national, publicly identified as Finlay H, is accused of developing and maintaining the website that sold illegal products, including drugs, fake IDs and ransomware that could be used by hackers.
He was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in June and appeared before a Rotterdam court yesterday for a procedural hearing.
H and an Irish national, who was arrested in Ireland in the summer, are accused of running the website known as Bohemia.
Bohemia grew to become one of the largest dark web marketplaces of its kind. At the time of the arrests, police had seized more than £6 million in virtual currency.
The British national, known as Finlay H, is accused of developing and maintaining the website that sold illegal products, including drugs, fake IDs and ransomware that could be used by hackers (file image).
Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. H was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in June and appeared before a Rotterdam court yesterday for a procedural hearing (file image)
Since Dutch police began their investigation into Bohemia in 2022, it is estimated that an average of 67,000 transactions were made per month, leading to a record turnover of £10 million in September last year.
The investigation, which also involved British, Irish and American police, found that transactions worth £1.4 million had passed through the Netherlands.
Bohemia was allegedly shut down at the end of 2023 in what is claimed could have been an “exit scam”, a form of fraud in which members abscond with money associated with the company.
Addressing the site’s shutdown in November, Bohemia said in a statement that an “embarrassing and disgruntled set of events” had led one developer to go “dishonest” and withdraw a small amount of Bitcoin for a month from the website. Cyber reflector saying.
In a statement reported by Dutch news Stan Dujif, head of operations at the Dutch police, said: “The administrators, sellers and buyers of illegal markets often believe themselves to be elusive to the police and judiciary.
‘By conducting criminal investigations and prosecuting these criminals, it is clear that the dark web is not as anonymous as users may think. Due to international cooperation, the credibility and reliability of these markets have once again been seriously damaged.’
Following his court appearance, H will remain in custody for a further period.
