World’s Largest Dark Web Marketplace Taken Offline, Operator Arrested
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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.
The most notorious dark-web marketplace, Silk Road, was forcibly shut down in 2013. Now, an international operation has managed to take down what was the world’s largest active dark-web marketplace and arrested the individual who ran it.
As Europol reports, the marketplace in question is called DarkMarket. It consisted of almost 500,000 users and over 2,400 sellers, and it 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).
The marketplace was taken offline thanks to a joint operation involving Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom (the National Crime Agency), and the USA (DEA, FBI, and IRS). The investigation was led by the Koblenz Public Prosecutor’s Office and it discovered the 20+ servers located in Moldova and Ukraine used to run DarkMarket. They have since been shutdown, but not before investigators collected all the data they contained for further investigation, with a particular focus being placed on the moderators who worked for the marketplace.
As The Guardian reports, a 34-year-old Australian citizen who is thought to be the operator of DarkMarket has been arrested by the Central Criminal Investigation Department in the German city of Oldenburg. His arrest, combined with the data gathered from the seized servers, makes it likely other arrests and prosecutions will be forthcoming as moderators are identified and tracked down.
In November last year, the US government siezed over $1 billion in Bitcoin claiming the funds once belonged to the notorious dark web marketplace Silk Road. Although much smaller in scale, cryptocurrency transactions carried out on DarkMarket may also end up being seized as part of the investigation.
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