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Russian intelligence
APT28 ChipMixer cryptocurrency cryptomixer Cyber Fraud Europol FBI German Police Homeland Securities Investigation Identity Theft Money Laundering Russian intelligence

ChipMixer: Cryptocurrency Mixer Taken Down After ‘Laundering $3bn in Cryptocurrency’


Darknet cryptocurrency mixer, ChipMixer has been shut down as a result of a sting conducted by Europol, the FBI, and German police, which investigated servers, and internet domains and seized $46 million worth of cryptocurrency. 

During the raid, it was discovered that wallets connected to North Korean cybercriminals and Russian intelligence services had evidence of digital currencies. 

The US criminal prosecutors have booked a Vietnamese man they claim to have run the service since its August 2017 creation. Potentially contaminated funds are gathered by mixers and sent at random to destination wallets. 

Minh Quoc Nguyen, 49, of Hanoi has been accused of money laundering, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and identity theft. The FBI has included him on the wanted criminal list. 

Criminals laundering more than $700 million in bitcoin from wallets identified as stolen funds, including money taken by North Korean hackers from Axie Infinity's Ronin Bridge and Harmony's Horizon Bridge, were among the service's customers. 

It has also been reported that APT28, the Russian military intelligence, and Fancy Bear also utilized ChipMixer in order to buy infrastructure used from Kremlin Drovorub malware. Moreover, according to Europol, the Russian RaaS group LockBit was also a patron. 

ChipMixer joins a relatively small group of crypto mixers that have been shut down or approved, enabling criminals to conceal the source of the cryptocurrency obtained illegally. The list presently includes Blender.io, which was probably renamed and relaunched as Sinbad, and Tornado Cash, a favorite of cybercriminals that helped hackers launder more than $7 billion between 2019 and 2022. 

The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany seized two ChipMixer back-end servers and more than $46 million in cryptocurrencies, while American investigators seized two web domains that pointed to the company. 

According to court documents, ChipMixer has enabled customers to deposit Bitcoin, which would then be mixed with other users’ Bitcoin in order to anonymize the currency. 

Court records state that ChipMixer allowed users to deposit Bitcoin, which was then combined with Bitcoin from other users to make the currency anonymous. But, this mixer took things a step further by converting the deposited money into tiny tokens with an equal value called "chips," which were then combined, further anonymizing the currencies and obscuring the blockchain trails of the funds. This feature of the platform is what attracted so many criminals. 

The domain now displays a seizure notice, stating: “This domain has been seized by the FBI in accordance with a seizure warrant.” 

“Together, with our international partners, we are firmly committed to identifying and investigating cybercriminals who pose a serious threat to our economic security by laundering billions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency under the misguided anonymity of the darknet,” adds Scott Brown, special agent in charge of Homeland Securities Investigations (HSI) Arizona.  

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User Privacy
Cyber Crime DDOS Attacks EU Europol Phishing Attacks User Privacy

DDoS-for-Hire Websites are Seized by Authorities

 

According to Europol, international police deactivated roughly 50 well-known websites that charged users to perform distributed denial-of-service attacks and detained seven people who were allegedly the sites' administrators.

Operation Power Off was a coordinated effort by law enforcement agencies in the US, the Uk, the Netherlands, Poland, and Germany to combat attacks that have the potential to shut down the internet.

According to the police, the defendants misrepresented their websites as being services that could be employed for network testing while actually charging users for DDoS assaults against universities, government organizations, gaming platforms, and millions of people both domestically and overseas. Websites are rendered unavailable by DDoS attacks, which function by flooding them with unwanted traffic.

"These DDoS-for-hire websites, with paying customers both inside and outside the US, enabled network outages on a massive scale, targeting millions of victim computers around the world," said Antony Jung, special agent in charge of the operation at the FBI's field office in Anchorage, Alaska. Before purchasing or offering these illicit services, prospective users and administrators should exercise caution.

The largest DDoS-for-hire services are available on these sites, according to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), one of which has been used to launch more than 30 million attacks in its existence. Additionally, it has taken possession of customer data and, pending examination, may soon take legal action against UK site visitors.

DDoS Attack Is Illegal

DDoS poses the risk of lowering the barrier to entry for cybercrime. As per Europol, anyone with no technical expertise can start DDoS attacks with the press of a button for as little as $10, taking down entire networks and websites.

The harm they can cause to victims can be severe, financially crushing businesses and stripping people of necessary services provided by banks, governmental agencies, and law enforcement. Many young IT enthusiasts participate in this allegedly low-level crime feeling motivated by their imagined anonymity, unaware of the potential repercussions of such online activity.

The police take DDoS attacks seriously. Irrespective of their size, all users are monitored by law authorities, whether they are high-level hackers launching DDoS assaults against for-profit targets or casual users kicking their rivals out of video games.


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Misinformation
Cyber Security Europol Fake Documents Malicious actor McAfee Misinformation

According to Europol, Deepfakes are Used Frequently in Organized Crime

 

The Europol Innovation Lab recently released its inaugural report, titled "Facing reality? Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes", as part of its Observatory function. The paper presents a full overview of the illegal use of deepfake technology, as well as the obstacles faced by law enforcement in identifying and preventing the malicious use of deepfakes, based on significant desk research and in-depth interaction with law enforcement specialists. 

Deepfakes are audio and audio-visual consents that "convincingly show individuals expressing or doing activities they never did, or build personalities which never existed in the first place" using artificial intelligence. Deepfakes are being utilized for malevolent purposes in three important areas, according to the study: disinformation, non-consensual obscenity, and document fraud. As technology further advances in the near future, it is predicted such attacks would become more realistic and dangerous.

  1. Disinformation: Europol provided several examples of how deepfakes could be used to distribute false information, with potentially disastrous results. In the geopolitical domain, for example, producing a phony emergency warning that warns of an oncoming attack. The US charged the Kremlin with a disinformation scheme to use as a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine in February, just before the crisis between Russia and Ukraine erupted.  The technique may also be used to attack corporations, for example, by constructing a video or audio deepfake which makes it appear as if a company's leader committed contentious or unlawful conduct. Criminals imitating the voice of the top executive of an energy firm robbed the company of $243,000. 
  2. Non-consensual obscenity: According to the analysis, Sensity found non-consensual obscenity was present in 96 percent of phony videos. This usually entails superimposing a victim's face onto the body of a philanderer, giving the impression of the victim is performing the act.
  3. Document fraud: While current fraud protection techniques are making it more difficult to fake passports, the survey stated that "synthetic media and digitally modified facial photos present a new way for document fraud." These technologies, for example, can mix or morph the faces of the person who owns the passport and the person who wants to obtain one illegally, boosting the likelihood the photo will pass screening, including automatic ones. 

Deepfakes might also harm the court system, according to the paper, by artificially manipulating or producing media to show or deny someone's guilt. In a recent child custody dispute, a mother of a kid edited an audiotape of her husband to persuade the court he was abusive to her. 

Europol stated all law enforcement organizations must acquire new skills and tools to properly deal with these types of threats. Manual detection strategies, such as looking for discrepancies, and automatic detection techniques, such as deepfake detection software uses artificial intelligence and is being developed by companies like Facebook and McAfee, are among them. 

It is quite conceivable that malicious threat actors would employ deepfake technology to assist various criminal crimes and undertake misinformation campaigns to influence or corrupt public opinion in the months and years ahead. Machine learning and artificial intelligence advancements will continue to improve the software used to make deepfakes.
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Migrant Smugglers
Cyber Crime Dark Web Europol Fake Documents Migrant Smugglers

Europol Dismantles Criminal Network Distributing Forged EU Travel Documents on Dark Web

 

The Spanish National Police and the French Border Police, in a joint operation coordinated by Europol, have busted an organized cybercrime gang involved in the procurement and distribution of forged travel and ID documents for migrant smugglers. 

During the raids, in which three house searches were carried out and a total of 17 people were arrested, police seized computers, smartphones, storage devices, counterfeit and genuine ID documents and photocopies of ID documents, labor certificates, administrative documents, payment cards, and cash. 

According to a press release published by European Union’s law enforcement agency, the organized cybercrime gang network distributed forged ID and travel documents in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. 

“The documents were used by other criminals involved in the smuggling of migrants to the US, the UK and Ireland and other criminal activities (such as property crimes, trafficking in human beings, drug trafficking),” the statement of Europol reads. The criminal network was directly involved in migrant smuggling activities and logistical arrangements in return for payments starting at €8000 ($9000) per person.” 

The members of the criminal gang, mainly originating from Eastern European countries, apparently also operated in Georgia and Lithuania. According to Europol, cybercriminals mainly used dark web channels to distribute forged documents, including residence permits, vehicle registration documents, driver’s licenses, and travel documents focusing on French, Romanian, Georgian, Lithuanian, and Polish IDs. 

Additionally, the suspects used instant messaging apps and postal services to send the documents to their intended recipients. Messaging apps, presumably encrypted ones, were used by the group to collaborate and exchange images of documents, vehicles, and money transfer slips. Europol analysts said they linked some of this information to other ongoing investigations. 

Last year witnessed a gradual shift in the methodology employed by migrant smugglers in the trafficking of human beings. Digital technology is playing a major role in the operations of migrant smugglers and they have expanded their use of social media platforms and mobile applications in order to offer their illegal services.  

Human traffickers have exploited the anonymity of the internet environment to target vulnerable individuals and then exploit them via both escort websites and even dating platforms. To counter this new threat, Europol signed a working agreement with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) designed to formalize cooperation on this and other serious and organized crimes.
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VPN
Customer Data Cyber Crime cybercriminals Europol VPN

VPNLab.net Service was Seized Because it was Used by Criminals to Spread Ransomware

 

Following a coordinated worldwide police investigation, a VPN service used by criminals to spread ransomware, malware, and facilitate other forms of cybercrime has been knocked offline. The 15 servers used by the VPNLab.net service have been seized or disrupted as part of a combined operation by Europol, Germany's Hanover Police Department, the FBI, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), and others. 

According to Europol, VPNLab.net was founded in 2008 and provides services based on OpenVPN technology and 2048-bit encryption to give online anonymity for as little as $60 per year. The service also offered a double VPN, with servers located in a variety of countries. "This made VPNLab.net a popular choice for cybercriminals, who could use its services to carry on committing their crimes without fear of detection by authorities," the agency said. 

According to Europol, several investigations have revealed criminals using the VPNLab.net service to enable illegal operations such as virus dissemination. Other incidents demonstrated the service's usage in the setup of infrastructure and communications for ransomware operations, as well as the actual deployment of malware. Cybercriminals also utilized the site to spread malware while evading authorities — but now that the servers have been seized, law enforcement is reviewing customer data in an attempt to identify cybercriminals and victims of cyberattacks.

The vpnlab.net domain presently shows a warning telling visitors that the domain has been seized by legal enforcement. According to the statement, authorities obtained consumer data held on confiscated servers, and an inquiry has been initiated. Europol has not revealed which types of malware and ransomware were distributed using the VPN provider. As a consequence of the investigation, more than 100 organizations have been identified as being vulnerable to cyberattacks, and law enforcement is collaborating with them to mitigate any possible compromise. 

"The actions carried out under this investigation make clear that criminals are running out of ways to hide their tracks online," said Edvardas Šileris, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). "Each investigation we undertake informs the next, and the information gained on potential victims means we may have pre-empted several serious cyberattacks and data breaches," he added. 

On January 17, 2022, authorities from Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom joined forces to disrupt VPNLab, with assistance from Europol.
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SQL Injections
Cyber Security Europol Phishing Mails Ransomware Security and Privacy SQL Injections

Europol Captured 'Target' 12 Suspects in Ransomware Cases

 

Europol announced this week that it has caught twelve suspects in various criminal groups who were causing havoc throughout the world by conducting ransomware assaults on key infrastructure, following a two-year investigation. 

According to Europol, the individuals are suspected of carrying out assaults on almost 1,800 people in 71 countries. The organisation is notorious for attacking huge corporations and is suspected of being behind an attack on Norsk Hydro, a worldwide aluminium producer located in Norway, in 2019, which prompted the company to halt operations across two continents. Europol seized more than $52,000 in cash and five luxury vehicles from the accused. 

The agency is presently conducting a forensic examination of the group's electronic devices in order to secure evidence and uncover fresh investigation leads. Europol and Eurojust, the European Union's body for criminal justice cooperation, organised the international sting, which comprised officials from eight different nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. It happened on October 26 in Ukraine and Switzerland, as per Europol. It is unclear if the individuals have been arrested or charged, with Europol just stating that they were "targeted." 

The agency stated. “Most of these suspects are considered high-value targets because they are being investigated in multiple high-profile cases in different jurisdictions.” 

Each of the cybercriminals played a unique function inside the criminal organisations. Some were responsible for breaking into the victims' IT networks, which they accomplished through a variety of methods such as brute force attacks, SQL injections, stolen passwords, and phishing emails with harmful attachments. 

Following that, they would use malware such as Trickbot and other tools to remain undetected and obtain more access, according to Europol. 

“The criminals would then lay undetected in the compromised systems, sometimes for months, probing for more weaknesses in the IT networks before moving on to monetising the infection by deploying ransomware. The effects of the ransomware attacks were devastating as the criminals had had the time to explore the IT networks undetected.” 

The attackers encrypted the victims' files before sending a ransom letter demanding bitcoin payment in return for the decryption keys. If the ransom was paid, it was reported that certain suspects were in charge of laundering the money through mixing services and cashing out. 

Europol did not elaborate on the identities of the victims or why they may have been targeted. Back in the United Kingdom, ransomware attacks have been on the rise, with cybercriminals targeting big IT businesses and destroying infrastructure.
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Phishing scam
Cyber Fraud Europol PayPal Phishing scam

Fraudsters Pose as Europol Chief in an Attempt to Steal Victims PayPal Account Details

 

The federal police's Computer Crime Unit is looking into an identity fraud case concerning Catherine De Bolle, the executive head of the EU's law enforcement organization Europol. Fraudsters are masquerading as the director of Europol, the European Union's law enforcement organization, to mislead individuals into providing their financial information. 

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, popularly known as Europol, previously called European Police Office and Europol Drugs Unit, is a law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU) constituted in 1998 to properly manage criminal intelligence and counteract significant global organized crime and terrorism through coexistence among competent authorities of EU member states. The Agency has no executive powers, as well as its personnel, are not authorized to detain suspects or act without prior consent from appropriate authorities in the member states. 

According to the Brussels Times, Belgian police have obtained numerous reports of emails posing to have been from Catherine De Bolle, Europol's executive director. The email badmouths the receiver of child pornography and sex trafficking before allegedly stealing the recipient's PayPal account details. 

Catherine De Bolle took over as Europol's executive director in 2018, following Rob Wainwright, whose tenure ended on May 1, 2018. She was previously the top commissioner of the Belgian federal police (1 March 2012–1 May 2018) as well as the police chief of zone Ninove (2001–2012). 

Europol, which had expressed concerns against this type of scam in April, asked web users not to fall for this fraud once again. 

“Our executive director would never contact members of the public threatening individuals with opening a criminal investigation,” tweeted Europol, which does investigate lots of actual cybercrime. 

The email is written in French and the sender introduces itself to be a COPJ – communication by an officer of the judicial police – and commences as: 

“At the request of Ms. Catherine De Bolle, Commissioner General of the Federal Police, elected to the post of Director of Europol — Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM), we are sending you this invitation. […] We are initiating legal proceedings against you for child pornography, pedophilia, exhibitionism, cyber pornography, and sex trafficking.” 

This email sent to individuals intimidates the receiver with criminal prosecution if they do not respond within 72 hours. 

“After this deadline, we will be obliged to send our report to the deputy prosecutor at the high court in Créteil [a suburb of Paris] and a cybercrime specialist to establish an arrest warrant against you.” 

This wasn't the first instance where Director De Bolle's name is being used in a phishing scam. Another fraudulent email claimed her power, and that of her successor as commissioner-general of the federal police, Marc De Mesmaeker, in March of this year. 

Following the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, 12,827 individuals in the United States reported being victims of "government impersonation scams" in 2020, leading to severe losses of about $110 million. 

Whereas on the other hand, Check Point analysts disclosed in April 2020 that perhaps a ransomware gang was incarcerating Android phones, alleging victims of owning sexually explicit material and asserting that their personally identifiable information had been transmitted to an FBI data center.

Among the most high-profile cloning frauds, one came in July 2020, where fraudsters stole over $118,000 in bitcoin by hacking more than 100 famous Twitter accounts, including those of then-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and then-Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden.
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FBI
Cyber Security Encryption Europol FBI

International Sting Operation Cracks Down Encryption Criminal Groups

In an international sting operation targeting drug suppliers led to an arrest of a man. The suspect's face was blurred by the Australian Federal Police on privacy matters. The criminals while dealing with drug smuggling and money laundering, texted with each other, they were pretty confident that they'd not get caught because of a special encrypted platform the criminals were using for communication. However, the was only one issue with the group, that all these texts, which were in millions, were being tapped by the FBI. 

As a matter of fact, the FBI had sent these Anom devices to the black market. Operation Trojan Shield has these details and allegations revolving around it. It is an international operation led by the FBI which has resulted in more than 800 arrests. NPR says "the document includes transcripts of smugglers' conversations in which they name their prices and handling fees and describe their methods. Many of them also sent snapshots to each other, showing packages of cocaine and other drugs. They discussed strategies, from adding drugs to diplomatic pouches to filling pineapples and tuna cans with cocaine." 

Law enforcement agencies captured around 8 tonnes of cocaine, around 22 tonnes of cannabis, and several other drugs (in tonnes). Besides this, authorities have seized "55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies," says Interpol, a European law enforcement agency. As per the FBI, the agencies worked together to provide these criminal organization that operates all over the world more than 12,000 devices. Europol says it has been one of the largest and sophisticated crackdown operations on encryption criminal activities to date. Using Anom, FBI, and Europol around 300 Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO). 

These include Italian organized crime group Outlaw Motorcycle gangs and other narcotics source (international), distribution systems, and transportation. "Law enforcement agencies were in a unique position to help the new Anom device find its market. In recent years, they've taken down three similar networks — Phantom Secure, EncroChat and, earlier this year, Sky Global — boosting criminals' demand for a new alternative," said NPR.

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THB
Cyber Crime Dark Web EU Europol SOCTA THB

SOCTA: Here's a Quick Look into the Report by Europol

 

The Serious Organized Crime Threat Assessment study 2021 by Europol summarises the criminal threat from the last four years and offers insights into what can be expected in the following four years. Organized crime isn't just cybercrime, but cybercrime is now a big component of organized crime. Europol sees the development of businesses, growth in the digital lifestyle, and the rise of remote workers as new vulnerabilities and opportunities for use. 

“Critical infrastructures will continue to be targeted by cybercriminals in the coming years, which poses significant risks,” cautions the published report. “Developments such as the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI), applications for biometrics data, or the availability of autonomous vehicles will have a significant impact. These innovations will create criminal opportunities.” 

The interruption of Emotet Botnet in January 2021, with foreign activities organized by Europol, is highlighted in the report. This includes the international efforts concerning the authorities of the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada, and Ukraine. But the overall thought is that cybercrime is growing in sophisticated ways with criminal gangs being increasingly organized due to which the threat is multiplying at a fast rate. However, the Europol report does not comment on the usual cyber threats, apart from the fact that crime syndicates sell it 'as a service more and more. 

ENISA estimates that 230,000 new malware variants are detected each day. Europol shows that the number and sophistication of attacks continue to increase. “The increase in the number of attacks on public institutions and large companies is particularly notable.” Further, the DDoS - Denial of service is an expanding threat, frequently followed by attempts at extortion. Attacks on government and vital resources continue, but criminal groups with lower security protocols increasingly target smaller organizations. 

“Last year saw a multitude of damaging consequences from ransomware, breaches, and targeted attacks against sensitive data,” comments Yaniv Bar-Dayan, CEO and co-founder at Vulcan Cyber. Cyber attackers have taken full advantage of the much more critical vulnerabilities at the detriment of the organizations, ranging from hacks of COVID-19 study data to assaults on critical networks and government agencies. The increase in online child exploits, especially what is recognized as the live distance violence, also occurred as students experienced months at home during school closures. Besides, Europol states that it has a database of over 40 million pictures from around the globe of child sexual abuse. 

Furthermore, there shouldn’t be an underestimation of the involvement of the Dark Web in illegal activities, where criminals use it to share their knowledge on operating security. The usage of the dark web for the selling of illicit drugs and weapons has increased over the past four years, but law enforcement has seemed to have caused some mistrust among consumers and might have cooled down the growth rate in association with online assaults. Sex trafficking (THB) is also carried out on the dark web and surface web pages where labor and sex are the main categories. Europol claims that THB is substantially underreported and states that in the EU, THB is on the rise for labor exploitation. 

Even the complexity of technology has increased with the inception of fraud such as investment fraud, BEC, non-deployment fraud, novelty fraud, fake invoice fraud, social profit fraud, bank fraud, etc. This will probably go on. Also “The use of deep fakes will make it much more challenging to identify and counter fraud,” warns Europol. And the organized crime ecosystem is marked by a networked environment with smooth, systemic, and profitable coordination among criminals.
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Operation Ladybird
Emotet Europol malware Operation Ladybird

Emotet - 'Most Dangerous Malware in the World' Disrupted by the Law Enforcement Agencies

 

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement announced that a global collaboration of law enforcement agencies had disrupted Emotet, what it called the ‘most dangerous malware in the world’.

‘Operation ladybird’ was conducted via a collaboration of private security experts with global law enforcement agencies to disrupt Emotet and take charge of Emotet’s command-and-control infrastructure. While conducting the raid Ukrainian police arrested at least two Ukrainian citizens working for the cybercriminal group.

Ukrainian law enforcement published a video showing officers seizing cash, computer equipment, and rows of gold bars. Neither Europol nor the Ukrainian police has shared the details regarding threat actors or their asserted role in the Emotet group. Ukrainian authorities released a statement explaining that “other members of an international hacker group who used the infrastructure of the Emotet bot network to conduct cyberattacks have also been identified. Measures are being taken to detain them”.

Europol stated that “the Emotet infrastructure essentially acted as a primary door opener for computer systems on a global scale”. A malware globally known as Emotet has jeopardized the free-flowing working of the Internet and has grown into one of the biggest botnets across the globe and ruining organizations with data theft and ransomware.

In 2014, Emotet was initially known as a banking trojan, the malware gradually evolved into a powerful weapon used by threat actors across the globe to secure unauthorized access to computer systems. Emotet’s designers known as APT group TA542 shared the malware with other threat actors who used malware to install banking trojans or ransomware, onto a victim’s computer system.

Interpol stated that “the infrastructure that was used by Emotet involved several hundreds of servers located across the world, all of these having different functionalities to manage the computers of the infected victims, to spread to new ones, to serve other criminal groups, and to ultimately make the network more resilient against takedown attempts”.
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Europol
Cyber Crime Dark Web DarkMarket Europol

DarkMarket Taken Down in an international Operation

 

DarkMarket, purportedly the world's biggest dark web marketplace, has been taken down by a Europol-coordinated international operation, as indicated by authorities. Europol upheld the takedown with specialist operational analysis and coordinated the cross-border collaborative effort of the nations.

The Central Criminal Investigation Department in the German city of Oldenburg arrested an Australian resident who is the alleged operator of DarkMarket, close to the German-Danish border over the weekend. The investigation, which was driven by the cybercrime unit of the Koblenz Public Prosecutor's Office, permitted officials to find and close the marketplace, switch off the servers and hold onto the criminal framework – over 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine upheld by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The stored information will give investigators new prompts to further investigate moderators, sellers, and buyers.

Before its closure, DarkMarket facilitated near 500,000 clients and had encouraged more than 320,000 transactions, as indicated by Europol. The dark web marketplace exchanged everything from drugs and counterfeit cash to stolen Mastercard details and malware. As per Europol's estimate, the site exchanged what might be compared to €140 million in today’s money, in a blend of bitcoin and monero. European authorities intend to utilize held onto DarkMarket servers from Ukraine and Moldova to investigate the buyers and dealers who utilized the site for criminal transactions.

DarkMarket's bust was not the first for German authorities, which have discovered illegal platform operators on German soil lately. In 2019, Koblenz prosecutors declared the disclosure of darknet servers facilitated from a previous NATO bunker in a lethargic German town. Authorities state the probe that revealed DarkMarket included a months-in length international law enforcement operation. US agencies like the FBI, DEA narcotics law enforcement division, and IRS tax authority all added to the investigation, alongside police from Australia, Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Moldova, with Europol playing a "coordinating role." 

DarkMarket is the most recent dark web marketplace taken down since the Silk Road bust back in 2015 — in recent years, international law enforcement operations had additionally brought down AlphaBay and Wall Street Market, which were likewise used to sell drugs and other illegal products.
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