The “biggest” sales platform of the global “darknet”, called “Hydra Market” and operating in Russian language since 2015, has been dismantled and bitcoins worth 23 million euros have been seized, announced Tuesday German justice.
“The servers of the largest + darknet + market in the world have been confiscated and 543 bitcoins for a total value of around 23 million euros have been secured”, according to a press release from the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office and the Federal Office for Security. criminal police (BKA).
The “darknet” is a parallel version of the internet, in which the anonymity of users is guaranteed.
Investigators suspect the “Hydra Market” platform, which has around 17 million customers, of being used for criminal activities and money laundering through more than 19,000 seller accounts.
At least 1.23 billion euros in sales were made through the “Hydra Market” platform in 2020 alone, making it “the illegal market with the highest turnover in the world”, according to the communicated.
The Russian-language site accessed through the Tor network was primarily used for trading drugs, stolen data and forged documents.
A banner announcing the police seizure was posted on the Hydra website on Tuesday, authorities said.
A sophisticated service, dubbed the “bitcoin bank mixer”, was used to conceal digital financial transactions with cryptocurrencies, making the investigation much more difficult, points out the BKA.
The investigations started in 2021 but the identity of the operators and administrators responsible for the platform is currently unclear.
Virtual addresses
The operation was carried out in conjunction with US authorities. “Together, with our German partners, we have seized the infrastructure of the largest + darknet + market in the world, but our work is not finished”, commented the American Minister of Justice Merrick Garland, promising to continue the hunt. criminals operating on the + dark web + (another name for the “darknet”).
American justice has already indicted a Russian national, Dimitri Pavlov, 30, accused of having administered servers used to operate Hydra. He is being prosecuted for drug trafficking and organized money laundering, according to the indictment.
The US Treasury Department also announced economic sanctions against Hydra, as well as virtual currency exchange Garantex.
In addition, “more than 100 addresses” of recipients of funds in cryptocurrency transactions linked to Hydra and “used to carry out illicit transactions”, have been identified.
This action aims to send “a message to criminals, you cannot hide on the + darknet + or their forums, and you cannot hide in Russia or anywhere else in the world”, commented Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, quoted in the press release, referring to “the global threat of cybercrime and ransomware that originates in Russia”.
The German authorities had already dismantled the “DarkMarket” platform in early 2021, then presented by investigators as the most important point of sale in the black cybermarket. This operation led a few months later to a worldwide crackdown leading to the arrest of some 150 people who were buying or selling drugs or weapons.
The “largest” global darknet sales platform, called “Hydra Market” and operating in Russian since 2015, has been dismantled, announced the German justice
AFP