The Dark Web: Largest Illegal Darknet Marketplace Taken Offline by Europol

The Dark Web: Largest Illegal Darknet Marketplace Taken Offline by Europol.

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, Europol, has closed the largest dark web marketplace after it was found to be trading in drugs & malware. Authorities say the darknet platform had half a million users, where drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware were traded. After a long investigation, the suspected operator was tracked down and arrested in Germany.

German prosecutors in the cities of Koblenz and Oldenburg said on Tuesday, January 12, that they had shut down what was “probably the largest illegal marketplace on the Darknet” which was called DarkMarket and arrested the man believed to operate it near Germany’s border with Denmark.

The detained man, believed to be DarkMarket’s operator, turned out to be is a 34-year-old Australian national. The authorities say drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware were all traded on the site, which had a half a million users and transacted business in cryptocurrencies equivalent to a value of €140 million.

Oldenburg police said the raid took place over the weekend. “Investigators were able to shut down the marketplace and turn off the server,” prosecutors said.

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