Major League Cyber Mafia Captured, Turns Out to Be a 20-Year-Old Kid
Law enforcement officers have arrested four individuals connected to illegal activities on the dark marketplace BreachForums. All suspects are reported to be around 20 years old.
BreachForums is one of the most notorious cybercrime discussion forums in the world. In 2022, the forum evolved into a platform for advertising stolen data and recruiting criminal groups.
Frequently, this dark marketplace sells hacking tools used to breach targets, even causing substantial financial losses. It can be said that this marketplace is a place where cyber thieves exchange information and conduct transactions.
BreachForums was only shut down in May 2024. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) states that ShinyHunters, an alias for one of the perpetrators, managed the site from June until its closure.
The arrests were carried out by the Paris police’s cybercrime brigade (BL2C) in Hauts-de-Seine and up to Seine-Maritime on the northern coast. Additionally, arrests occurred on the island of Reunion, located between Madagascar and Mauritius.
All arrested individuals used aliases such as Hollow, Noct, Depressed, and ShinyHunters. Specifically, the last one is also linked to attacks on Snowflake, Ticketmaster, and AT&T.
Although they appear as individuals, cybersecurity analysts say ShinyHunters is a mafia-like criminal group. One of its members, Sebastien Raoult, a French national, was previously arrested in the US, according to The Register on Sunday (19/4/2026).
All suspects are accused of participating in group attacks on the French retailer Boulanger, the government department France Travail, and the French football federation.
Previously, in February, law enforcement also arrested IntelBroker. Additionally, another arrest involved US citizen Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, known as Pompompurin, a former BreachForums admin.
Pompompurin was arrested in March 2023 and sentenced to 20 years with parole in January 2024. He has not yet served two years of house arrest but has been granted access to the internet again.