Has the Oasis run dry? Anatomy of a Dark Net Market Exit Scam
For anyone familiar with the dark net markets on the Deep Web, exit scams – the sudden disappearance of a market’s website and forum without any legitimate explanation, along with the bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency held in escrow, such as a hacking, DDoS attack, or seizure by law enforcement – are a risk one takes when participating in an online marketplace run by anonymous people selling contraband products and services. It’s an environment where best practices include using TOR to access the websites, a VPN to secure data, IP address and location, PGP to encrypt and decrypt....
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Monero appears to have lost its darknet market integrations, and very well may have fallen victim to an exit scam. Darknet market Oasis, the first to accept Monero, has abruptly gone offline in an apparent exit scam, making off with customer funds. An estimated 150 Bitcoins were lost, as well as an indeterminate amount of Monero. Several users report that attempts to withdraw XMR from AlphaBay, the darknet market whose integration was closely correlated with the currency’s meteoric rise, were unresponsive as well. HolladsHerbs, Reddit user, posted in the /r/DarkNetMarkets subreddit a....
Oasis Market, a darknet marketplace has shut shop in what appears to be an exit scam. Oasis Market, the deep web marketplace has gone dark! Users fear that this might be the last they are going to see of Oasis Market as many lose funds. The marketplace is said to have made away with over 150 BTCs and an undisclosed amount in Monero. The exit of Oasis Market comes at the time when it was rising up the ranks of darknet marketplaces, alongside AlphaBay, Silk Road 3, Dream Market and others. The notoriously promising marketplace was one of the few to start accepting Monero alongside Bitcoin....
Anonymous cryptocurrency Monero has jumped in value over the past couple of months. More recently though, the price has declined from its highs as the community experienced unexpected rumors. Throughout this, Monero has remained a valued asset with the sixth–highest market capitalization. It also continues to have significant trading volume. The Oasis....
The dark web has started to embrace Monero, a privacy-conscious alternative to Bitcoin. First, the operators of SIGAINT, a commonly used dark web email provider, decided to host a full node for Monero light wallets. Then, an eight-month-old darknet market called Oasis decided to allow vendors to accept Monero. Finally, Alphabay, the largest darknet market in operation right now, announced the first phase of Monero implementation on their platform. Why Monero? Staff members at Alphabay and Oasis say that customers and vendors have simply demanded the Monero option. “It's a lot more secure....
In mid-July 2017, the largest darknet marketplace (DNM) Alphabay went dark and patrons didn’t know if the administrators were busted by law enforcement or if it was an exit scam. Not too long after the site went dark, law enforcement disclosed that an organized police task force, from various jurisdictions, infiltrated Alphabay alongside the DNM Hansa. Thailand police also arrested Alexandre Cazes, the alleged administrator for the Alphabay marketplace. Now over four years later, Alphabay (AB) has allegedly returned as the original AB admin “Desnake” has ostensibly....