As Monaco noted Tuesday, the dark web drug racket was already a billion-dollar industry before the pandemic drove it to new heights. OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. sanctions, including the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation. At the same time, no other individual has been charged or arrested in connection with the operation of Nemesis. “The takedown follows years of intensive investigative work to map the platform’s technical architecture and identify the individuals behind it,” Europol said. The Dutch national police’s Cyber Enabled Crime Team was involved in the operation, code-named SpecTor.
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OFAC’s designation of Parsarad was the result of strong partnership and coordination with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, FinCEN, and a range of European law enforcement partners. The indictment alleges that Parsarad founded Nemesis in March 2021, and that the marketplace grew to serve more than 150,000 users and register around 1,100 vendor accounts worldwide. The dark web is no longer an untouchable sanctuary, and even privacy-centric cryptocurrencies can’t fully shield operations from discovery. Archetyp was shut down as a result of actions carried out by law enforcement between June 11 and 13.
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This is particularly the case when, according to TRM Labs, a significant number of darknet marketplaces are still in operation. This monumental action, part of a joint initiative codenamed Operation Deep Sentinel, was led by German authorities in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust. The multi-day enforcement efforts between June 11 and 13 spanned six nations — Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Romania, and others — and led to multiple arrests, asset seizures, and a complete takedown of the platform’s infrastructure.
Police Seizes Archetyp Market Drug Marketplace, Arrests Admin
Vlad’s love for technology and writing created rich soil for his interest in cybersecurity to sprout into a full-on passion.Before becoming a Security Analyst, he covered tech and security topics. Dedicated software like Bitdefender Ultimate Security can help you fend off cyberthreats from both the public and the Dark Web. Are you a journalist or partner of OCCRP researching a subject around organized crime or corruption? The arrests were made across Europe, the U.S., and Brazil, and included 153 suspects in the U.S., 55 in the U.K., 52 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, nine in Austria, five in France, two in Switzerland, one in Poland, and one in Brazil.
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That revenue funded Incognito Market’s operations, including paying “employee” salaries and for computer servers. To facilitate these financial transactions, Incognito Market had its own “bank,” which allowed its users to deposit cryptocurrency on the site into their own accounts. After a narcotics transaction was completed, cryptocurrency from the buyer’s account was transferred to the seller’s account, less the 5% fee that Incognito collected.
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Meanwhile, users of Archetyp began noticing the site’s main domains were down last week, causing some to suspect the site was facing trouble. It appears law enforcement then sent a message through the Archetyp administrator’s messaging channel, confirming the takedown. Authorities also moved against one moderator and six of the platform’s top vendors in Germany and Sweden. Investigators seized assets valued at 7.8 million euros, which include both cryptocurrency and physical property.
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In total, the operation led to the seizure of 47 smartphones, 45 computers, large quantities of drugs, and assets worth €7.8 million. According to the indictment, Parsarad, 36, of Tehran, launched Nemesis Market on the dark web in March 2021. At its peak, Nemesis Market had over 150,000 users and more than 1,100 vendor accounts registered worldwide. Of these, more than 55,000 orders were categorized as orders for stimulants, including methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaine base (crack cocaine), and other controlled substances.
In a LinkedIn post in April 2024, Lin shared some pictures from a “cybercrime and cryptocurrency training” at the Saint Lucia Police Academy. In another post, he promoted his new healthcare project called ‘Face2ID’, which uses contactless biometric scanning to create unique and secure patient identifiers, improving the accuracy and security of patient data management. ‘MommaBear’ has announced that all server access keys have been changed to prevent further unauthorized transactions. In addition, all onion links for accessing the site have been removed and orders are being paused to protect remaining assets and prevent further losses. The administrator has promised to keep users updated as more information becomes available and efforts continue to recover the lost funds. Launched in 2020, Archetyp was Europe’s longest-serving drug market at the time of its takedown last week, and authorities today confirmed a number of key arrests.
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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. However, during the raids, authorities seized the criminal infrastructures of the marketplace, which will provide investigators across the world with leads and evidence to identify more individuals behind dark web accounts. The operation, codenamed SpecTor, was done in collaboration with nine countries, including the US, UK, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, and Switzerland.
Trial Attorney Gaelin Bernstein of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Segev Phillips for the Northern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case, with substantial assistance from the U.S. This virtual event picks apart the various components of attack surface management strategy, the push to mandate continuous asset visibility and inventory tools, and the use of red-teaming, bug bounties and pen-tests in modern security programs. As described by IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco, investigators “cracked the code of so-called ‘safe spaces’” by targeting these friction points. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips. On other platforms, such as OpenSea, Lin sells NFTs with basketball players, and his collections appear to be up to 37 NFTs.
With expert analysis and practical solutions across consumer electronics, software, security, and more, PCMag helps consumers make informed buying decisions and get the most from their tech. From in-depth reviews to the latest news and how-to guides, PCMag is the go-to source for staying ahead in the digital world. Based on a public analysis made by researchers on January 9, 2024, the marketplace had 2,144 users, 237 sellers, 1,102 products, and 1,565 total orders. Lin’s GitHub account describes him as a “backend and blockchain engineer, Monero enthusiast.” This GitHub account has approximately 44 publicly available software coding projects. He has contributed 1,741 times on the platform, and his main projects are related to blockchains, cryptocurrency, and network security. The marketplace had more than 600,000 users with a total transaction volume of at least €250 million ($289 million).
Authorities tracked financial transactions, analyzed forensic evidence and worked closely with international counterparts to uncover the individuals behind the marketplace. Not all of the arrests appear to trace directly or exclusively back to the DarkMarket takedown; court documents show that in many cases, suspicious packages provided an initial tipoff. And previous seizures like those of Hansa and Wall Street Market are likely still paying dividends for investigators. This also means that Operation Dark HunTor likely isn’t the final word on dark web arrests and that illicit marketplace vendors may have to proceed with a little more caution. “While one person can register infrastructure or oversee a platform’s setup, a darknet marketplace of Nemesis’s size typically requires a broader operational team,” said Ari Redbord, the Head of Legal and Government Affairs at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. One key moderator and six top vendors — some responsible for thousands of drug shipments — were arrested in Germany and Sweden.
The law enforcement operation took the marketplace’s infrastructure offline in the Netherlands and led to the arrest of a 30-year-old German national, identified as the administrator. German and Swedish authorities also arrested one moderator and six of the marketplace’s top vendors, seizing assets worth €7.8 million. The arrests stem from the December 2021 seizure of the infrastructure supporting the Monopoly Market, a darknet drug marketplace dating back to 2019. After German authorities seized the infrastructure, authorities compiled intelligence that served as the basis “for hundreds of national investigations,” according to a statement issued by Europol Tuesday. Operation SpecTor was a collaborative initiative across JCODE members, including the Department of Justice, FBI, DEA, USPIS, HSI, IRS-CI, ATF, Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. This operation was aided by non-operational supporting participation from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and U.S.
- According to analysis by TRM Labs’ blockchain intelligence team focused on darknet market ecosystems, Empire Market was one of the largest Western darknet markets in operation during the relevant period.
- He also posted an analysis from Cloudflare showing that his DDoS solutions passed a stress test from China-based IPs.
- Rui-Siang Lin is a 23-year-old developer who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “crypto enthusiast and developer” from Taiwan.
- Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has designated The Moscow Times as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution.
- “With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web’s longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world’s most dangerous substances,” said Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, deputy executive director of operations at Europol.
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. “It provided us with all the information which led to the identification of those arrested today,” says Europol press officer Claire Georges. “We collated the information and then we sent out what we call intelligence packages to all the concerned countries. Basically it’s information or documents where we say, look, we know this person in your country has done this, you may want to open an investigation.” Georges says also that there are more arrests to come.
The U.S. portion of the investigation was coordinated through the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, which includes the DOJ, FBI and DEA, among others. Investigations and prosecutions remain ongoing in more than 30 federal districts, the agency said in its statement. Last week, two men, both in custody, were charged in federal court in Chicago with operating “Empire Market,” a dark web marketplace that enabled users to buy and sell more than $430 million in illegal goods and services around the world. The prosecutor’s office said law enforcement officers seized almost one metric ton of narcotics and psychotropic substances during raids that dismantled the criminal group. So while the Department of Justice has used the indictment to highlight, in Matthew Galeotti’s words, its commitment “to protecting U.S. communities from the harms caused by fentanyl and darknet marketplaces,” there still remains an ongoing risk of such harms.
Regarding the announcement of the SuperMarket co-administrator in relation to the wallets emptied by the other administrator, this has happened in the past in other cases of the “domino effect” that occurs when law enforcement makes arrests in the underground community. There are more hypotheses to follow, but the most reasonable one is that there could be some relationship in terms of crypto accounts shared between ‘FatherBear’ and ‘Pharao’, which could lead to other traces. In this case, ‘FatherBear’ will keep a low profile for a while with all the money and then probably resurface with a different identity.
