During a large-scale, nationwide, operation against the Calabrian mafia organisation ‘Ndrangheta, two properties were searched in Bonn. One of the suspects lives in the Bonn area.
A multinational operation also involving Europol, UK and US authorities has put a halt to illegal trade valued at over £125 million. DarkMarket, the world s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web, has been taken offline in an international operation involving Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
Europol supported the takedown with specialist operational analysis and coordinated the cross-border collaborative effort of the countries involved.
At the time of its closure, DarkMarket had almost half a million users and more than 2,400 vendors selling a broad range of illicit merchandise. Among the goods advertised for sale were stolen credit card details, illegal drugs, counterfeit money, anonymous SIM cards, and malware.
Australian man arrested for alleged operation of now-shuttered DarkMarket
The world s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web has been taken offline, with German authorities arresting an Australian man over the alleged operation of the nefarious site.
January 12, 2021 23:36 GMT (15:36 PST) | Topic: Security
An international law enforcement operation has resulted in the closure of what Europol is calling the world s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web.
DarkMarket, which boasted almost 500,000 users, was taken offline following a joint effort between authorities in Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, through the National Crime Agency, and the United States, including the FBI. Europol said it supported Germany in coordinating the cross-border collaborative effort that involved international partners.
What could be the world s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web has been taken offline in an international operation involving law enforcement agencies in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Moldova, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
At the time of its closure, DarkMarket had almost half a million users and more than 2,400 vendors selling a broad range of illicit merchandise. Among the goods advertised for sale were stolen credit card details, illegal drugs, counterfeit money, anonymous SIM cards, and malware.
At least 320,000 transactions were carried out via the marketplace, involving the transfer of more than 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero (a sum equivalent to more than $170m). Because of its location on the dark net, DarkMarket was accessible only to internet users with specialized identity-cloaking tools.
World s Largest Dark Web Marketplace Taken Offline, Operator Arrested
The 20+ servers used to run DarkMarket in Moldova and Ukraine have been switched off. By Matthew Humphries
(Photo: Europol)
The most notorious dark web marketplace was called Silk Road, but it was forcibly shutdown back in 2013. Now an international operation has managed to take down what was the world s largest active dark web marketplace while also arresting the individual who ran it.
As Europol reports, the marketplace in question is called DarkMarket. It consisted of almost 500,000 users, over 2,400 sellers, and handled over 320,000 transactions. In total, it s thought DarkMarket saw over $170 million change hands in the form of Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrencies (over 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero).