“Operation RapTor shows that the dark web is not beyond the reach of law enforcement,” said Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, Edvardas Šileris. “Through close cooperation and intelligence sharing, officers across three continents identified and arrested suspects, sending a clear message to those who think they can hide in the shadows. Europol will continue working with our partners to make the internet safer for everyone.” For the first time, FBI agents from all the bureau’s field offices also visited buyers to tell them about the overdose danger of pills sold online, which are often disguised to look like prescription drugs. “Markets have sort of varying levels of sensitivity to fentanyl-related sales,” he said. “Some claim they don’t do it, then don’t police vendors; some claim they don’t do it, but then they do. Some will be selling precursor products but not finished products.”
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Experience the power of The DarkBlue Intelligence Suite and get proactive in your fight against cybercrime. Request a free trial today and strengthen your ability to track and disrupt illicit activities on the dark web. Its presence significantly escalates the likelihood of a darknet market attracting law enforcement attention, he said, because fighting the drug is a priority for international law enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in collaboration with Europol, the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement Team, and various national and international partners, announced the results of Operation RapTOR May 22.
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While you could find all sorts of products on Silk Road, drug sales quickly became prevalent because of the profits it raked in. In fact, by 2013, a Guardian article revealed that about 70% of listings were drug-related. Just like on the regular internet, phishing is a big problem on the dark web as well. Fraudsters create fake versions of popular darknet sites to trick users into entering login details or personal data. If you fall for it and log in, they immediately steal your credentials and either sell or use them for other scams. It’s also a marketplace for digital mercenaries; you’ll find everything from solo hackers offering their skills to well-organized groups that take on more complex or high-stakes projects.
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Described by blockchain firm Elliptic as “the most prolific crypto-fueled black market ever seen online,” Haowang Guarantee trafficked in laundered USDT, fake IDs, and tools for industrialized fraud, often exploiting victims trapped in scam compounds. Authorities confiscated over two metric tons of drugs, 144 kilograms of fentanyl-laced substances, 180 firearms, and hundreds of millions in crypto assets, as per the DOJ statement released Thursday. While this may all sound sophisticated, it is a financial crime and very risky. Those who use these services can still be traced and prosecuted if caught, especially as law enforcement continues to sharpen its tracking tools.
- Besides Hydra operators, other DNM administrators faced criminal prosecution in 2024.
- While these outfits are not traditional DNMs, their success highlights how drug vendors are scaling their operations throughout Russian-speaking countries.
- A global law enforcement operation has resulted in the seizure of $200 million in cash and digital assets and the arrest of 270 individuals across 10 countries, the U.S.
- The defendants fulfilled drug orders through the various vendor accounts by packaging the drugs into parcels and by delivering those parcels to post offices and mailboxes in Los Angeles County and elsewhere.
- If you ever have to connect to public Wi-Fi, make sure to use a VPN to keep your browsing safe and private.
Arrested In Global Crackdown On Dark Web Drug Market
Unlike regular e-commerce sites, markets on the dark web often deal with illegal or highly restricted goods and services, such as fake documents, hard drugs, and hacking services. Sure, you might come across listings for legit products like handcrafted jewelry or digital art, but those are few and far between. The result of this fallout is a significant fragmentation of darknet marketplaces, with smaller, specialized sites emerging to fill the void left by the collapsing giants. As major players tear each other apart, new, niche markets are carving out their own territories, often with a sharp focus on specific categories of illicit goods.
In the US, the arrests fell under the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, which includes investigators from FBI and the United States Postal Service. J-CODE’s most recent operation, called Sabotor, resulted in 61 arrests announced in March 2019. Such signatures are intended to confirm that vendors still have access to their accounts and have not been arrested or compromised. While the method has its limitations, HugBunter argued that failure to provide a cryptographic signature alongside continued account activity could be telling. HugBunter, the anonymous user who founded the forum in 2018, asked “market admins, vendors, and other service operators” to provide “proof-of-life” by signing posts with what’s known as a PGP encrypted signature, a form of cryptographic proof. Europol, which is based in The Hague, built its intelligence on evidence from Germany, which seized the marketplace’s “criminal infrastructure” in December 2021, the agency said.
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It’s unclear how big a dent Operation Disruptor will make in the long run; the dark web drug market tends to bounce back, even after the high-profile collapses of marketplaces like the Silk Road and AlphaBay. But even if law enforcement is playing an eternal game of Whac-A-Mole, it’s at least gotten extremely proficient at whacking. Opponents of strict dark web policing sometimes argue that such operations drive criminal activity to even more hidden or encrypted platforms, making detection harder. They may also raise privacy and surveillance concerns, warning that aggressive cyber policies risk collateral impacts on online freedom and legitimate users of anonymity technologies. The seized drugs included 141 pounds of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, more than 569 pounds of amphetamines, 95 pounds of cocaine, 95 pounds of MDMA and 22 pounds of LSD and ecstasy pills, authorities said. Dubbed Operation RapTor, authorities say the coordinated strike dismantled darknet drug networks fueling the fentanyl epidemic, marking the largest seizure to date under an initiative known as J-CODE.
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Police across Europe have dismantled a dark web drug marketplace known as ‘Archetyp Market’, the pan-European Europol police body said on Monday, which added that U.S. authorities had also assisted them in the operation. Operation RapTor spanned 10 countries, making it the most extensive international effort in the history of the J-CODE initiative. Department of Justice and Europol, the crackdown involved law enforcement agencies from Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The far-reaching success of Operation RapTor hinged on extensive cooperation between numerous agencies and international partners.
BidenCash was launched in 2022, and since it became a hot spot for cybercriminals to sell and buy illegal things, including stolen card information and personal data. However, in June 2025, BidenCash’s relevant domains (around 145) were seized by the US Department of Justice. The site gives out free samples of the stolen data every now and then to gain more customers.
Interestingly, new sites get more hype, and it even becomes difficult to shut them down, as they have better security than the older ones. In the Incognito case, crypto flows revealed how vendors laundered earnings. As DOJ noted, the conspiracy involved laundering darknet proceeds through exchanges and peer-to-peer brokers. TRM has identified structured withdrawals from the market to personal wallets and then to services with less stringent KYC. Investigators said the seizure of Archetyp Market followed years of forensic work to trace financial flows, analyze digital evidence and map the platform’s architecture.
- Chainanalysis, a blockchain analysis firm, conducted research that shows that the revenue decreased from $3.1 billion (2021) to $2 billion (2024).
- “This is the second-largest LSD seizure in India, after the 2023 bust of another five-star-rated darknet cartel.
- This is where cybercriminals go to buy and sell things like stolen credit card numbers, personally identifiable information (PII), and even SSH login details.
- A Manhattan district attorney successfully used this evidence to bring charges against one of the suspects.
- Over its five years of activity, the marketplace amassed over 612,000 users with a total transaction volume of over €250 million (approximately $289 million) in Monero cryptocurrency transactions.
Investigations are on to identify the end-users and other operatives,” an NCB officer said. For a local machine configuration, he recommends a computer purchased for cash running Linux, using a local Tor transparent proxy. For operations security he suggests avoiding storing conversation logs, varying writing styles, avoiding mobile phone-based tracking and leaking false personal details to further obfuscate one’s identity. One of the central76 discussion forums was Reddit’s /r/DarkNetMarkets/,777879 which has been the subject of legal investigation, as well as the Tor-based discussion forum, The Hub.
Usually these products are sent to the buyer by post and money transferred to the seller through the escrow system. She writes about cybersecurity startups, cyberattacks in Eastern Europe and the state of the cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia. Her work has also been published at Sifted, The Kyiv Independent and The Kyiv Post.
Srinivasan received virtual currency as payment for the drugs and then routed that virtual currency through cryptocurrency exchanges. On Dec. 16, 2024, Rui-Siang Lin pleaded guilty to charges brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York of narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication for owning and operating Incognito Market, one of the largest narcotics marketplaces on the internet.
Buyers and sellers are often subject to vetting processes that reduce fraud and scam risks, making these platforms more reliable and secure for customers. By offering heightened anonymity and stronger defenses against law enforcement, these markets attract criminals who feel they provide a safe environment. Operation RapTor involves law enforcement actions taken by JCODE member agencies, including the DEA, FBI, FDA OCI, HSI, IRS-CI, and USPIS. State, local, and other federal agencies also contributed to Operation RapTor investigations through task force participation and regional partnerships, as well as the multi-agency Special Operations Division. According to court documents and statements made in court, Srinivasan and Ta used the “redlightlabs” darknet account to advertise and sell counterfeit M30 oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and other illicit drugs. Srinivasan also used the encrypted messaging application Wickr to communicate with and sell drugs to customers.
Throughout 2024, DNM vendors also sent far more value to personal wallets and stored funds on-chain. Retail vendors appear to be holding a greater portion of their proceeds on-chain than wholesale vendors, while wholesale vendors (those who distribute drugs in large quantities) are making greater use of DeFi. “This is the second-largest LSD seizure in India, after the 2023 bust of another five-star-rated darknet cartel. The Muvattupuzha native is suspected to be the kingpin of this sophisticated trafficking network.
