The world's second-largest Darknet marketplace dug

authorities from Europe and the United States have in common a successful strike against the trade in illegal Goods on the Internet. The investigators dug out the according to their data, the world's second-largest illegal marketplace in the so-called Darknet. On the platform "Wall Street Market" had been offered stolen data, fake documents, and especially drugs, said a spokesman for the General Prosecutor's office in Frankfurt. Now the three alleged operator, was accused of conspiracy in custody. The Darknet is a shielded part of the Internet.

For the men it's supposed to be a 31-Year-old from Bad Vilbel (Hesse), a 22-Year-old from Kleve (Nordrhein-Westfalen), and a 29-Year-old from the district of Esslingen (Baden-Württemberg). The Suspects are expected to have earned in sales on the platform. According to the Federal criminal police office (BKA), they received Commission payments in the amount of two to six percent of the sales value. Last to set to the Online marketplace, more than 63'000 sale offers, as well as more than a Million customer accounts and 5400 seller be logged in.

Time has been closed, apparently, also a Finnish Darknet platform. Europol informed that the Finnish Darknet marketplace Silkkitie, also known under the name of "Valhalla Marketplace", was also seized.

Darknet platforms function like ordinary Online consignment stores – with a difference: they can be only on the Tor Browser, which ensures that the IP address of the user cannot be tracked. Once on the page, the user can select from a rich offer of products in the shopping cart and at the end of pay – with Kryprowährungen, which conceal the identity of the user. The seller and the products can be assessed, as well as Amazon or Zalando.

More than a Million user accounts

The most famous Darknet marketplace, the 2011 geründete "Silk Road". In 2013, the FBI arrested the operator, the then 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Since the end of the Silk Road several Darknet platforms alternated as the market leader. Some were closed by investigative authorities, and others, adopted by the so-called "Exit Scams". To trade in the platforms, users must pay most crypto-currencies on a platform connected to the account. In the case of an Exit Scam, the operator of the platform to transfer the parked money in their own accounts and then disappear.

In the Darknet forums had been speculating in recent days about such an Exit-Scams "Wall Street Market". The BKA has confirmed this suspicion in its press release. Accordingly, the operator would have the side at the 23. April in the maintenance mode and started to transfer customers ' funds to their own accounts. In the case of house searches, the officers encountered 550'000 Euro in cash, as well as the crypto-currencies Bitcoin and Monero for the equivalent of over 100'000 Euro. In addition, several high-quality vehicles that were seized. The 22-year-old suspect from Kleve has been found according to the BKA, also a shot gun.

The festival were long and complex undercover investigations by the US-American and Dutch law enforcement authorities and the European police authority, Europol. Against the three German accused was determined according to the BKA, the first since March.

At the request of the General Prosecutor's office of Frankfurt-on-Main in prison a judge has the casting arranged at the district court on remand because of "commercial, regular provision of an opportunity for the unauthorised distribution of narcotic drugs". The Server of the illicit Online marketplace were seized on Thursday. Whether users of the platform to be sued, is likely to depend on whether the investigators were able to obtain contact details of the dealer. Two of the most active sellers were able to seem to be already taken in the course of investigations in Los Angeles. (Editorial Tamedia)

Created: 03.05.2019, 11:42 am