Who is on the FBI most wanted list? the-sun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from the-sun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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).
Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries have teamed up to take down what Europol is calling the “world's largest” illegal marketplace on the dark web. DarkMarket had almost 500,000 users when it was taken offline. According to Europol’s announcement, vendors mainly used the marketplace to sell drugs, counterfeit money and credit card details, malware and anonymous SIM cards.
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 (the National Crime Agency), and the USA (DEA, FBI, and IRS).
Taken down Europol
Europol supported the takedown with specialist operational analysis and coordinated the cross-border collaborative effort of the countries involved.
At the current rate, this corresponds to a sum of more than €140 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.
The Central Criminal Investigation Department in the German city of Oldenburg arrested an Australian citizen who is the alleged operator of DarkMarket near the German-Danish border over the weekend.