A British man who ran a global phishing service has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.
Zak Coyne created LabHost—a subscription service that allowed fraudsters to access fake versions of legitimate websites.
The fraudulent pages could then be used to deceive unsuspecting victims into handing over sensitive information.
According to the British Crown Prosecution Service, the 24-year-old received $230,000 worth of cryptocurrency for designing and operating the site.
The digital assets were laundered through multiple wallets and ultimately transferred to his bank after being converted into cash by a third party.
Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro reported that LabHost offered three tiers of membership to cybercriminals that were paid for using Bitcoin.
A standard plan cost $179 per month, while the priciest package—which allowed multiple campaigns to be executed at once—cost $300.
Some of the phishing pages available masqueraded as banks, government departments and companies including Amazon, Uber and Netflix.
Estimates suggest that LabHost was used by thousands of criminals in 91 countries, who collectively defrauded more than one million people.
According to blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, crypto wallets with ties to the site received more than $1.1 million worth of digital assets between August 2021 and April 2024.
Losses in the U.K. stood at $42 million, extending to more than $132 million worldwide.
Coyne was arrested at Manchester Airport in the North of England back in April 2024, and the website was subsequently taken down.
Investigators recovered a large amount of evidence after his devices were seized, with London’s Metropolitan Police describing it as a “monumental operation.”
Commander Stephen Clayman said Coyne had brought “misery to thousands of innocent people,” and told would-be fraudsters: “We will find you and take action.”
The father of one had pleaded guilty to three criminal counts last September.
Judge Jenny Lester-Ashworth told him during sentencing that LabHost was “one of the most professional and sophisticated websites in the world” for online fraud.
“”You also enjoyed what you were doing and also by being immersed in the criminal underworld operating online,” she added.
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