bernardowestgart, Author at The News Max

The largest dark web market for illegal goods is no more

bernardowestgart — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:04:18 +0000

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Two of the three largest dark web markets are closed for dark web link business.

The Department of Justice and Europol announced Thursday that they have that served hundreds of thousands of customers trying to get their hands on illegal goods online.

While you or I can easily buy groceries, electronics and clothes online, when it comes to finding drugs, weapons and stolen identities, things can get a little more complicated. Merchants of contraband hide out on the dark web, . There, buyers and sellers are anonymous, darkmarket 2024 and so is the currency, with most transactions happening through bitcoin.

AlphaBay alone had 200,000 customers and more than 40,000 sellers peddling illegal goods, making it the largest takedown for a dark web marketplace ever. The website had 100,000 listings for sale when the governments took it down. In comparison, , had 14,000 listings when the FBI shut down the site four years ago. Hansa was the third largest dark web darknet market when it shut down.

“I believe that because of this operation, the American people are safer from the threat of identity fraud and malware, and safer from deadly drugs,” attorney general Jeff Sessions said at a press conference Thursday. He called the bust one of the “most important criminal cases” of the year.

The website made $1 billion in sales before it was shut down in a joint operation of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Dutch police and Europol.

“They coordinated a takedown and have punched a big hole in the operating ability of drug traffickers and other serious criminals around the world,” Europol director Rob Wainwright said.

Visitors first noticed AlphaBay was down on July 5, when Alexandre Cazes, dark market list better known as Alpha02, the website’s creator and admin, was arrested in Thailand. On July 12, he was found dead while in custody there, in an apparent suicide. Frequent AlphaBay users were concerned that the shutdown was an “exit scam,” in which a darknet market owner takes the money and runs.

“The operation at AlphaBay was well run and sophisticated, and it struck me as highly unlikely that the darknet market would go down as an exit scam with anything other than calculated precision,” Emily Wilson, the director of analysis at Terbium Labs said, in an email.

Terbium Labs had been following the dark web for months, specifically in marketplaces like AlphaBay. After the fallout in early July, Wilson said former moderators and well-known users were left in confusion.

After AlphaBay’s shutdown, its users flocked to Hansa, increasing the dark market onion darknet market‘s traffic in eightfold, Wainwright said. Dutch police took over Hansa last month and have been collecting thousands of user’s information in an undercover operation.

Wainwright said officers are tracking down Hansa buyers and sellers through their usernames and passwords.

But that’s just one chapter in the fight against illegal online transactions. Just as AlphaBay rose and became 10 times larger than , FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe predicts there will be another dark web darknet market to fill the void.

“There are some criminals that think of cybercrime as a freebie,” McCabe said. “They think they will get away with it because there are too many players and too many countries, they think they will get away with it because the schemes are too complex and because they operate in the shadows.”

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One of the biggest ever dark web police stings leads to 150 arrests

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 21:04:14 +0000

Police around the world have arrested 150 suspects in one of the largest-ever dark web sting operations.

The suspects arrested included several high-profile targets, involved in buying or selling illegal goods online, Europol said today.

Operation Dark HunTOR also recovered millions of pounds in cash and , as well as drugs and guns.

The bust stems from a German-led police sting earlier this year taking down the ‘world’s largest’ darknet marketplace.

darknet market markets are e-commerce sites designed to lie beyond the reach of regular search engines and are popular with criminals, as buyers and sellers are largely untraceable.

Police around the world have arrested 150 suspects in one of the largest-ever dark web sting operations.

The suspects arrested included several high-profile targets, involved in buying or selling illegal goods online, Europol said today (stock image)

Dark HunTOR, ‘was composed of a series of separate but complementary actions in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States,’ the Hague-based Europol said.

In the United States alone, police arrested 65 people, while 47 were held in Germany, 24 in Britain, and four each in Italy and the Netherlands, among others.

A number of those arrested ‘were considered high-value targets’ by Europol.

Law agents also confiscated 26.7 million euros (£22.45million) in cash and virtual currencies, dark web darknet market list as well as 45 guns and 516lbs of drugs, including 25,000 ecstasy pills.

Italian police also shut down the ‘DeepSea’ and ‘Berlusconi’ marketplaces, ‘which together boasted over 100,000 announcements of illegal products’, said Europol, which coordinated the operation together with its twin judicial agency Eurojust.

German police in January closed down the ‘DarkMarket’ online marketplace, used by its alleged operator, an Australian, to facilitate the sale of drugs, stolen credit card data and malware.

Europol said the arrest of the alleged operator, caught near the German-Danish border at the time, and the seizure of the criminal infrastructure provided ‘investigators across the world with a trove of evidence’.

German prosecutors at the time said DarkMarket came to light in the course of a major investigation against the web-hosting service Cyberbunker, located in a former NATO bunker in southwest Germany.

Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre EC3 has since been compiling intelligence packages to identify the key targets, the continent’s policing agency said.

The secret ‘darknet market‘ includes websites that can be assessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users.

They have faced increased pressure from international law enforcement in recent months.

‘The point of operations such as this is to put criminals operating on the dark web on notice (that) the law enforcement community has the means and global partnerships to unmask them and hold them accountable for their illegal activities,’ Europol deputy director of operations Jean-Philippe Lecouffe said.

Rolf van Wegberg, cybercrime investigator dark darknet market 2024 at the TU Delft university said the operation signalled a break in the trend of recent police actions against suspected online criminals.

‘This kind of operations in the past looked at arresting the controllers of these marketplaces, we now see police services targeting the top sellers,’ he told investigative journalists at the Dutch KRO-NCRV public broadcaster.

A press conference about the operation has been set for 10am local time (2pm GMT) in Washington with the Department of Justice.

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One of the biggest ever dark web police stings leads to 150 arrests

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:04:12 +0000

Police around the world have arrested 150 suspects in one of the largest-ever dark web sting operations.

The suspects arrested included several high-profile targets, involved in buying or selling illegal goods online, Europol said today.

Operation Dark HunTOR darknet sites also recovered millions of pounds in cash and , as well as drugs and guns.

The bust stems from a German-led police sting earlier this year taking down the ‘world’s largest’ darknet market marketplace.

Darknet markets are e-commerce sites designed to lie beyond the reach of regular search engines and are popular with criminals, as buyers and sellers are largely untraceable.

Police around the world have arrested 150 suspects in one of the largest-ever dark web sting operations.

The suspects arrested included several high-profile targets, involved in buying or selling illegal goods online, Europol said today (stock image)

Dark HunTOR, ‘was composed of a series of separate but complementary actions in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, dark web market list darknet market the United Kingdom, and the United States,’ the Hague-based Europol said.

In the United States alone, police arrested 65 people, dark web link while 47 were held in Germany, 24 in Britain, and four each in Italy and the Netherlands, among others.

A number of those arrested ‘were considered high-value targets’ by Europol.

Law agents also confiscated 26.7 million euros (£22.45million) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as 45 guns and 516lbs of drugs, including 25,000 ecstasy pills.

German police in January closed down the ‘DarkMarket’ online marketplace, used by its alleged operator, an Australian, to facilitate the sale of drugs, stolen credit card data and malware.

German prosecutors at the time said DarkMarket came to light in the course of a major investigation against the web-hosting service Cyberbunker, located in a former NATO bunker in southwest Germany.

Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre EC3 has since been compiling intelligence packages to identify the key targets, the continent’s policing agency said.

The secret ‘darknet market‘ includes websites that can be assessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users.

They have faced increased pressure from international law enforcement in recent months.

Rolf van Wegberg, cybercrime investigator at the TU Delft university said the operation signalled a break in the trend of recent police actions against suspected online criminals.

A press conference about the operation has been set for 10am local time (2pm GMT) in Washington with the Department of Justice.

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A timeline of the biggest ransomware attacks

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 14:04:14 +0000

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The history of technology is riddled with unintended consequences. As William Gibson wrote in Burning Chrome, “…the street finds its own uses for things.” Though Bitcoin may not have been originally conceived as a medium for ransom payments, it’s quickly become a central tool for online criminals.

Ransomware, a category of “,” blocks access to a computer or network until a ransom is paid. Despite the evolving efforts of governments to and , the attacks keep coming.

Cryptocurrency ransomware payments totaled roughly $350 million in 2020, — an annual increase of over 300% from 2019. And because US companies are legally required to report cyberattacks only if customers’ is compromised, that estimate may be far too conservative.

Read more:

Below, we tally up the damage of some of the highest-profile episodes.

Kaseya (2021)

On July 2, 2021, Kaseya announced its systems had been . Kaseya provides IT solutions for other companies — an ideal target which, darknet markets in a domino effect, ended up impacting approximately in multiple countries. REvil, a cybercriminal outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack and demanded ransoms ranging from a few thousand dollars to multiple millions, .

It’s unclear how many individual businesses paid up, but REvil demanded from Kaseya. Kaseya declined to pay, opting to cooperate with the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency. On July 21, 2021, Kaseya a universal decryptor key and dark web darknet market urls distributed it to organizations impacted by the attack.

JBS (2021)

On May 31, 2021, JBS USA, one of the largest meat suppliers in the US, a hack that caused it to temporarily halt operations at its five largest US-based plants. The ransomware attack also disrupted the company’s Australia and UK operations. JBS paid the hackers an in Bitcoin to prevent further disruption and limit the impact on grocery stores and restaurants. The the hack to REvil, a sophisticated criminal ring well-known in ransomware attacks.

Colonial Pipeline (2021)

On May 7, 2021, America’s largest “refined products” pipeline after a hacking group called Darkside infiltrated it with ransomware. Colonial Pipeline covers over 5,500 miles and transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily. The impact of the attack was significant: In the days that followed, the average price of a gallon of gas in the US increased to more than $3 for as drivers rushed to the pumps.

The pipeline operator said it paid the hackers $4.4 million in cryptocurrency. On June 7, 2021, the DOJ announced it had part of the ransom. US law enforcement officials were able to track the payment and take back $2.3 million using a private key for a cryptocurrency wallet.

Brenntag (2021)

On April 28, 2021, German chemical distributor learned it was the target of a cyberattack by Darkside, which stole 150GB of data that it threatened to leak if ransom demands weren’t met. After negotiating with the criminals, Brenntag ended up negotiating the original ransom of $7.5 million down to , which it paid on May 11.

CNA Financial (2021)

On March 23, 2021, CNA Financial, the commercial insurer in the US, it had “sustained a sophisticated cybersecurity attack.” The attack was by a group called Phoenix, which used ransomware known as Phoenix Locker. CNA Financial eventually paid in May to get the data back. While CNA has been tight-lipped on the details of the negotiation and transaction, but says all of its systems have since been fully restored.

CWT (2020)

On July 31, 2020, US business travel management firm CWT disclosed it had been impacted by a that infected its systems — and that it had paid the ransom. Using ransomware called Ragnar Locker, the assailants claimed to have stolen sensitive corporate files and knocked 30,000 company computers offline.

As a service provider to of S&P 500 companies, the data release could have been disastrous for CWT’s business. As such, the company paid the hackers about $4.5 million on July 28, a few days before Reuters the incident.

University of California at San Francisco (2020)

On June 3, 2020, the University of California at San Francisco that the UCSF School of Medicine’s IT systems had been compromised by a hacking collective called Netwalker on June 1. The medical research institution had been working on a cure for COVID.

Apparently, Netwalker had researched UCFS, hoping to gain insights into its finances. Citing the billions of dollars UCFS reports in annual revenue, Netwalker demanded a $3 million ransom payment. After negotiations, Netwalker the bitcoin equivalent of $1,140,895 to resolve the cyberattack. According to the BBC, Netwalker was also identified as the culprit in at least two other 2020 ransomware attacks targeting universities.

Travelex (2019)

On New Year’s Eve 2019, London-based foreign currency exchange Travelex was by a ransomware group called Sodinokibi (aka REvil). The attackers made off with 5GB of customer data, including dates of birth, credit card information, and insurance details. Travelex took down its website in 30 countries in an attempt to contain the virus.

In the wake of the ransomware attack, Travelex struggled with customer services. Sodinokibi initially demanded a payment of $6 million (£4.6 million). After negotiations, Travelex paid the cybercriminals (285 BTC at the time, roughly £1.6 million) to get its data back.

WannaCry (2017)

In May 2017, a ransomware called infected computers across the globe by exploiting a vulnerability in Windows PCs. The WannaCry vulnerability was revealed during a massive leak of NSA documents and hacking tools engineered by a group called Shadow Brokers in .

Though the exact number of WannaCry victims remains unknown, around the world were infected. Victims included Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica and thousands of hospitals in the UK. Computer systems in 150 countries were affected by the attack, with a total estimated loss of around $4 billion globally.

The attackers initially demanded to unlock infected computer systems. The demand was later increased to $600 in bitcoin. However, some researchers claim that no one got their data back, even if they met the demands.

WannaCry attacks to this day. In February 2021, the DOJ three North Korean computer programmers for their alleged role in the WannaCry outbreak.

Locky (2016)

Discovered in February 2016, Locky is notable due to the incredibly high number of infection attempts it’s made on computer networks. Attacks typically come in the form of an email with an invoice attached from someone claiming to be a company employee. On February 16, 2016 identified more than 50,000 Locky attacks in one day.

Locky has , but the goal is largely the same: Lock computer files to entice owners to pay a ransom in cryptocurrency in exchange for a decryption tool, which would allow users to regain access to their locked files. The majority of Locky victims have been in the US, and , but Canada and France experienced significant infection rates as well.

TeslaCrypt (2015)

an earlier program called CryptoLocker, the earliest TeslaCrypt samples were circulated in November 2014 but the ransomware was not widely distributed until March of the following year.

TeslaCrypt initially targeted gamers. After infecting a computer, a pop-up would direct a user to pay a for a decryption key to unlock the infected system. report the requested ransoms ranged from $250 to $1000 in Bitcoin. In May 2016, the developers of TeslaCrypt a master decryption key for affected users to unlock their computers.

CryptoWall (2014)

Widespread reports of computer systems infected from the CryptoWall ransomware emerged in 2014. Infected computers were unable to access files — unless the owner paid for access to a decryption program. impacted systems across the globe. The attackers demanded payment in the form of prepaid cards or bitcoin. CryptoWall caused roughly $18 million in damages, . Multiple versions of CryptoWall were released, with each version making the ransomware more difficult to trace and dark darknet market onion combat.

CryptoLocker (2013)

The first time much of the world heard the term “ransomware” was during 2013’s outbreak. Discovered early in September 2013, CryptoLocker would cripple more than 250,000 computer systems during the following four months. Victims were instructed to send payments in cryptocurrency or money cards to regain access. The ransomware delivered at least to its perpetrators.

A in 2014 succeeded in taking down the Gameover ZeuS botnet, darknet market list which was a primary distribution method for CryptoLocker. The DOJ indicted Russian hacker Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, as the botnet’s ringleader. Bogachev is still at large — and the FBI is currently of up to $3 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.

AIDS Trojan/PC Cyborg (1989)

Widely considered the template for all subsequent attacks, the AIDS Trojan (aka PC Cyborg) is the of a ransomware attack. In 1989, more than a decade before the creation of bitcoin, a biologist named Joseph Popp distributed 20,000 floppy disks at the World Health Organization AIDS conference in Stockholm. The floppy disks were labeled “AIDS Information – Introductory Diskettes” and contained a trojan virus that installed itself on MS-DOS systems.

Once the virus was on a computer, it counted the times the computer booted up. Once the computer booted up 90 times, hid all directories and encrypted filenames. An image on the screen from the ‘PC Cyborg Corporation’ directed users to mail $189 to a PO address in Panama. The decryption process was relatively simple, however, and security researchers released a free tool to help victims.

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Inside busted illegal $220million darknet data centre

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 11:04:08 +0000

Footage has emerged of the inside of a five-storey abandoned underground NATO bunker built with 31inch thick concrete walls in Germany allegedly converted by criminal gangs into a high tech data centre to host darknet websites.

An Australian man was arrested on Monday accused of running a $220million illegal darkweb marketplace – called the biggest in the world and ‘ for criminals’ – after ha was tracked following the bunker’s discovery.

The joint investigation by Australian Federal Police, Scotland Yard, the , Europol, darknet market markets onion address and German authorities, among others, arrested the man, 34, as he allegedly tried flee across the Danish border into .

The man, known only as Julian K, is the alleged operator of DarkMarket and has been detained by German investigators.

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The 5,000sq m former NATO bunker located in south-western Germany (pictured) was built with 31inch thick concrete walls and was converted into a data facility called CyberBunker to host darknet market websites after being bought in 2012

A night-vision aerial view of the aboveground portion of the bunker containing a gatehouse, office, helipad and entrance building (pictured) which descends another four levels below the surface

A screenshot of the illegal website allegedly run by the arrested Australian man and temporarily hosted on CyberBunker which displays drugs for sale (pictured)

German police officers walk through the gate at the perimeter of the former Cold War bunker (pictured) converted into an illegal data centre after it was raided in 2019

DarkMarket was shut down on Monday and its new servers, located in Ukraine and Moldova after relocating from the bunker, were taken off the internet, prosecutors in the city of Koblenz said.

‘Until its closure, DarkMarket was probably the largest marketplace worldwide on the darknet market, with almost 500,000 users and more than 2400 sellers,’ prosecutors said.

More than 320,000 transactions were conducted via the website including the sale of drugs, counterfeit money, stolen or falsified credit cards, anonymous SIM cards and malware.

The transactions were reportedly worth a total of 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero – two cryptocurrencies – for an equivalent sum of more than $221million.

The servers will be forensically examined by authorities to uncover information about the website’s operations and criminal network.

The solid concrete bunker (pictured) was built to withstand a nuclear blast is located in the south-western German town of Traben-Trarbach

Two of the entrances to the disused bunker (pictured) which was raided by police in 2019 after being bought by a private foundation based in Denmark in 2012

The accused man has already fronted a German court and dark darknet market list been denied bail – to be transferred to a German prison in the next few days.

He has reportedly refused to speak to investigators or court officials.

German prosecutors said the man was trying to flee Denmark into Germany when arrested and was travelling through Europe either on holiday or conducting business for the illegal website.

They said the investigation around DarkMarket originated after the discovery of the data processing centre run by criminals in the 5,000sqm former unused bunker in south-west Germany.

The discovery of the illegal data centre in the bunker led to the arrest of multiple people accused of being part of a criminal network and being an accessory to hundreds of thousands of illegal transactions.

Some went on trial in October (pictured)

The data facility hosted illegal websites, which included DarkMarket temporarily, and was shut down in 2019.

The building, constructed by the West-German military, in the mid-1970s descended five-storeys below the surface and was built with 31inch thick concrete walls to withstand a nuclear blast.

A meteorological division of the military used the facility after the Cold War until 2012 to forecast weather patterns where German soldiers were deployed.

The building was sold to a foundation based in Denmark in 2012 after officials could find no other buyers for the vacant facility.

A number of people were arrested after the discovery of the data centre – accused of being part of a criminal network and being accessories to hundreds of thousands of illegal transactions involving prohibited material such as drugs and hacking tools.

Some already went on trial in October.

The darkweb was originally developed for the United States military but has been overrun by criminals because they can conceal their identity on the platform.

Server rows constructed in the bunker which is made of solid concrete and climate controlled (pictured).

The data centre was dismantled after the raid and multiple people linked to the centre were put on trial

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Inside busted illegal $220million darknet data centre

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 08:04:07 +0000

The joint investigation by Australian Federal Police, Scotland dark market list Yard, the , Europol, and German authorities, among others, arrested the man, 34, as he allegedly tried flee across the Danish border into .

The man, known only as Julian K, is the alleged operator of DarkMarket and has been detained by German investigators.

A night-vision aerial view of the aboveground portion of the bunker containing a gatehouse, office, helipad and entrance building (pictured) which descends another four levels below the surface

A screenshot of the illegal website allegedly run by the arrested Australian man and temporarily hosted on CyberBunker which displays drugs for sale (pictured)

German police officers walk through the gate at the perimeter of the former Cold War bunker (pictured) converted into an illegal data centre after it was raided in 2019

DarkMarket was shut down on Monday and its new servers, located in Ukraine and Moldova after relocating from the bunker, were taken off the internet, prosecutors in the city of Koblenz said.

‘Until its closure, DarkMarket was probably the largest marketplace worldwide on the darknet market, with almost 500,000 users and more than 2400 sellers,’ prosecutors said.

More than 320,000 transactions were conducted via the website including the sale of drugs, counterfeit money, stolen or falsified credit cards, anonymous SIM cards and malware.

The transactions were reportedly worth a total of 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero – two cryptocurrencies – for darknet market site an equivalent sum of more than $221million.

The servers will be forensically examined by authorities to uncover information about the website’s operations and criminal network.

The solid concrete bunker (pictured) was built to withstand a nuclear blast is located in the south-western German town of Traben-Trarbach

Two of the entrances to the disused bunker (pictured) which was raided by police in 2019 after being bought by a private foundation based in Denmark in 2012

The accused man has already fronted a German court and been denied bail – to be transferred to a German prison in the next few days.

He has reportedly refused to speak to investigators or court officials.

German prosecutors said the man was trying to flee Denmark into Germany when arrested and was travelling through Europe either on holiday or conducting business for the illegal website.

They said the investigation around DarkMarket originated after the discovery of the data processing centre run by criminals in the 5,000sqm former unused bunker in south-west Germany.

Some went on trial in October (pictured)

The data facility hosted illegal websites, which included DarkMarket temporarily, and was shut down in 2019.

The building, constructed by the West-German military, in the mid-1970s descended five-storeys below the surface and was built with 31inch thick concrete walls to withstand a nuclear blast.

A meteorological division of the military used the facility after the Cold War until 2012 to forecast weather patterns where German soldiers were deployed.

The building was sold to a foundation based in Denmark in 2012 after officials could find no other buyers for the vacant facility.

Some already went on trial in October.

The darkweb was originally developed for the United States military but has been overrun by criminals because they can conceal their identity on the platform.

Server rows constructed in the bunker which is made of solid concrete and climate controlled (pictured).

The data centre was dismantled after the raid and multiple people linked to the centre were put on trial

The post Inside busted illegal $220million darknet data centre appeared first on The News Max.

Darknet crypto kingpin JokerStash retires after illicit $1 billion…

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 05:04:11 +0000

By Tom Wilson

LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The kingpin or kingpins of the world’s biggest illicit credit card marketplace have retired after making an estimated fortune of over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, according to research by blockchain analysis firm Elliptic shared with Reuters.

The “Joker’s Stash” marketplace, where stolen credit cards and identity data traded hands for bitcoin and other digital coins, ceased operations this month, Elliptic said on Friday, in what it called a rare example of such a site bowing out on its own terms.

Criminal use of cryptocurrencies has long worried regulators, with U.S.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde calling last month for tighter oversight.

While terrorist financing and money laundering are top of law-enforcement concerns, narcotics, fraud, scams and ransomware are among the chief areas of illegal use of digital currencies, according to Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson.

Joker’s Stash was launched in 2014, with its anonymous founder “JokerStash” – which could be one or darkmarket url more people – posting messages in both Russian and English, Elliptic said.

It was available on the regular web and via the darknet market, which hosts marketplaces selling contraband.

The darknet market, or darkweb, is a part of the internet that isn’t visible to regular search engines, and requires a form of browser that hides a user’s identity to access.

Elliptic, whose clients include law-enforcement agencies and financial firms, estimates that JokerStash raked in more than $1 billion in profits in cryptocurrencies over the years, at current prices.

Bitcoin has soared from just over $300 in 2014 to hit a record $49,000 on Friday, pulling up other coins in its wake.

The blockchain firm reached the over $1 billion figure by analysing the marketplace’s revenue and the fees it charged, and said it was at the lower end of its estimates.

In December, Interpol and the FBI seized the domain names used by the site, but it continued operating via the darknet market list, Elliptic said website Cyber-security firm Digital Shadows also said in December that the darknet market site remained live after the seizure.

Interpol did not respond to a request for comment.

The FBI could not be reached outside regular business hours.

Trading illegal credit cards is “a billion-dollar business,” said Robinson. “It’s also providing a means of cashing out other types of cyber-criminality.”

On Jan. 15. Joker’s Stash posted a message announcing it would close permanently on Feb.
15. In fact it went offline on Feb. 3, Elliptic said.

“Joker goes on a well-deserved retirement,” said the message, which Reuters saw a screenshot of. “It’s time for us to leave forever.”

Accompanying it was a picture of the 1862 painting “Sta´nczyk” by Polish artist Jan Matejko, darknet market markets links which depicts a court jester sitting forlornly in a bedroom as a party goes on in the background.

(Reporting by Tom Wilson; Editing by Pravin Char)

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Europol says illegal marketplace "DarkMarket" taken offline

bernardowestgart — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 02:04:14 +0000

THE HAGUE, Jan 12 (Reuters) – An online marketplace called “DarkMarket” that sold illegal drugs has been taken down in an operation led by German law enforcement agencies, European police agency Europol said on Tuesday.

The dark market list had almost 500,000 users with 2,400 sellers, dark market onion web sites Europol said in a statement.
Transactions conducted on it in cryptocurrency were worth more than 140 million euros ($170 million).

“The vendors on the marketplace mainly traded all kinds of drugs and sold counterfeit money, stolen or counterfeit credit card details, anonymous SIM cards and malware,” Europol said.

Agencies from Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States also took part in the operation, which Europol helped to coordinate.

darknet market markets are e-commerce sites designed to lie beyond the reach of regular search engines.

They are popular with criminals, Darknet Websites as buyers and sellers are largely untraceable. Payments on the DarkMarket were made in bitcoin and monero.

The investigation was led by German prosecutors and darknet market list an Australian citizen who is alleged to be the operator of DarkMarket was arrested near the German-Danish border last weekend, darknet market links Europol said.
More that 20 servers were seized in Moldova and Ukraine.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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German investigators shut down big darknet marketplace

bernardowestgart — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 23:04:17 +0000

BERLIN (AP) – German prosecutors said Tuesday that they have taken down what they believe was the biggest illegal marketplace on the darknet market and darknet market magazine arrested its suspected operator.

The site, known as DarkMarket, was shut down on Monday, prosecutors in the southwestern city of Koblenz said.
All sorts of drugs, forged money, darknet markets onion address stolen or forged credit cards, anonymous mobile phone SIM cards and malware were among the things offered for sale there, they added.

German investigators were assisted in their months-long probe by U.S. authorities and by Australian, British, Danish, Swiss, Ukrainian and Moldovan police.

The marketplace had nearly 500,000 users and more than 2,400 vendors, dark web darknet market prosecutors said.

They added that it processed more than 320,000 transactions, and Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrency to the value of more than 140 million euros ($170 million) were exchanged.

The darknet market links is a part of the web accessible only with specialized identity-cloaking tools.

The suspected operator, a 34-year-old Australian man, was arrested near the German-Danish border.

Prosecutors said a judge has ordered him held in custody pending possible formal charges, and he hasn’t given any information to investigators.

More than 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine were seized, German prosecutors said. They hope to find information on those servers about other participants in the marketplace.

Prosecutors said the move against DarkMarket originated in an investigation of a data processing center installed in a former NATO bunker in southwestern Germany that hosted sites dealing in drugs and other illegal activities.

It was shut down in 2019.

That center hosted DarkMarket at one point.

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Germany shuts down darknet platform specializing in drugs

bernardowestgart — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 19:04:05 +0000

BERLIN (AP) – German investigators on Tuesday shut down a Russian-language darknet market marketplace that they say specialized in drug dealing, seizing bitcoin worth 23 million euros ($25.3 million).

Prosecutors in Frankfurt described the “Hydra dark web market urls” platform as the world’s biggest illegal darknet market marketplace.

They said they seized its server infrastructure in Germany.

The shutdown was the result of investigations underway since August, in which U.S. authorities participated.

The U.S. Treasury Department also announced Tuesday it was sanctioning Hydra as well as a virtual currency exchange, dark market onion web markets Garantex, that operates out of Russia.

The department said both entities have been used to help finance the activities of ransomware gangs.

The Hydra platform had been active at least since 2015, German prosecutors said. They added that, darknet websites as well as illegal drugs, forged documents, intercepted data and “digital services” were offered for dark market list markets sale.
They said that it had about 17 million registered customer accounts and more than 19,000 registered sellers.

Prosecutors said the platform had sales of at least 1.23 billion euros in 2020.

Cybercrime research firm Elliptic said Hydra has facilitated over $5 billion in bitcoin transactions since 2015, receiving a boost after the closure of a key competitor in 2017.

“Listings on the site also included forged documents, data (such as credit card information) and digital services,” Elliptic said.

“Products were advertised for sale in a number of countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.”

The post Germany shuts down darknet platform specializing in drugs appeared first on The News Max.

bernardowestgart, Author at The News Max

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