17 Arrested and $80,000 Worth of Bitcoin Seized in Dark Web Sting Operation

A joint media release between the United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Australian Federal Police (AFP), and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) has revealed that $80,000 worth of Bitcoins have been seized in a recently concluded 'dark web' sting. The investigation was conducted to nab people attempting to sell/purchase firearms illegally via the underground network. Four Australians have been arrested in this regard. Globally, the covert operation resulted in a total of 17 arrests across Europe and North America, which further paved the way for....

At least 400 dark net web domains have been reported seized and 17 individuals arrested in connection with Operation Onymous, an ongoing global cybercrime crackdown. A number of high-profile dark net markets, most notably Silk Road 2.0, have been shut down by law enforcement agencies in the US and Europe over the past 24 hours. The European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit, or Eurojust, reported on 7th November that 414 dark web domains have been seized so far as part of Operation Onymous. All of the sites in question were accessible through the Tor network, which according to those....

A third of the 414 dark net addresses seized in Operation Onymous may have simply been 'cloned' sites with no actual illicit commercial activity taking place on them, according to new research by independent security analyst Nik Cubrilovic. In a blog post presenting his findings, Cubrilovic says 11 dark markets with commercial activity taking place on them remained operational, while their clones had been seized. "Some of these sites were mentioned in the FBI press release ... as having been taken down when in fact the clones were seized," he adds. According to Cubrilovic, the markets....

The coordinated international action, dubbed Operation Onymous, against the Deep Net marketplaces infamous for being run on the rails of Bitcoin and other digital currencies is still being unveiled. So far, three men have been arrested in the last few days in conjunction with the cases. Currently, Cloud 9, Hydra, and Silk Road 2.0 display the increasingly-visible "This Hidden Site Has Been Seized" notice that online law enforcement has become famous for making. Beyond the three confirmed downed sites, several other Deep Net marketplaces are offline at the moment. Dark net marketplace....

Illicit goods obtained by Dutch and German police. Source: om.nl. The Dutch public prosecution service is reporting that Dutch and German police have shut down and seized assets of Utopia, a dark net website only accessible via the Tor network used to trade illegal goods such as drugs, stolen credit card numbers, and weaponry similar to the Silk Road website shut down last year by American authorities. Five individuals with ties to the marketplace have been arrested and taken into custody, and authorities have seized about 900 bitcoins, worth about $595,000 at the time of this writing.....