DOJ Takes Down 'Largest Dark Net Marketplace in History'

Justice Department announces takedown of AlphaBay, the largest dark web market
Dark web Hansa Market shut down after being run for a month by law enforcement
Author

23 July, 2017

Like the Silk Road marketplaces before it, was a site hosted on the Tor network's hidden services - meaning it didn't leave a tracible internet address for authorities to track down.

Authorities have shut down two dark web marketplaces associated with the trade in drugs, weapons, malware and stolen data.

According to Europol, Dutch police took control of Hamsa about a month ago, and when AlphaBay closed its doors, police observed an eightfold increase in users. Sessions said the site contributed to the opioid epidemic.

"Europol has been supporting the investigation of criminal marketplaces on the Dark Web for a number of years", the organization noted.

In a press conference in Washington, US attorney-general Jeff Sessions spoke about the "new challenge" that law enforcement faces from "transnational criminal organisations who think they can commit their crimes with impunity using the dark net".

Alexandre Cazes, the creator and administrator for AlphaBay, was indicted (1:17-CR-00144-LJO) and charges were filed in the Eastern District of California on June 1. "Whether they operate in broad daylight or on the dark net, we will never stop working to find and stop these criminal syndicates".

FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe said AlphaBay was ten times larger than Silk Road, a similar dark website the agency shut down in 2013. United States and European investigators collaborated for months on the takedown, which saw AlphaBay and Hansa - together responsible for more than 350,000 "illicit commodities" - first infiltrated and then taken offline. Europol says that there were more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals on AlphaBay alone. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were the primary form of payment, with accounts valued at millions of dollars frozen and seized. Now it has been confirmed by Europol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the USA and the Netherlands police that Hansa has also been deactivated.

The Cazes indictments lists 11 transactions in which undercover agents purchased marijuana, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, fake driver licenses, and an ATM skimming machine from vendors on AlphaBay.

Prior to the shutdown, Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian officials believe created AlphaBay, was arrested in Thailand by authorities working in cooperation with US law enforcement. He was later found dead in his cell; officials said it was an apparent suicide.

AlphaBay's servers were seized with the help of authorities in Thailand, Lithuania, Canada, Britain and France.


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