Europol Shuts Down Dark Web Marketplace Monopoly Market: 288 Arrested
Europol coordinated with nine other law enforcement agencies to take down the dark web marketplace Monopoly Market.
- Europol coordinated with nine other law enforcement agencies across the globe for Operation SpecTor to take down the dark web marketplace Monopoly Market.
- One hundred and fifty-three of the 288 vendors and buyers were arrested 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, and one in Poland and Brazil each.
This week, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation or Europol busted 288 members of Monopoly Market, a dark web marketplace engaged in the drug trade. Operation SpecTor also resulted in the seizure of €50.8 million ($53.4 million) in cash and virtual currencies (possibly Monero), 850 kg of drugs, and 117 firearms.
Operation SpecTor comes just one month after Operation Cookie Monster, the U.S. Department of Justice’s action against dark web identity access broker Genesis Market, and a year after authorities shut down the world’s largest and longest-running darknet marketplace at the time, Hydra, and later, RaidForums.
Buyers and sellers on Hydra traded drugs, stolen financial information such as credit card data, fraudulent identification documents, counterfeit bills, and money laundering and mixing services. Those on RaidForums traded in personal data records of U.S-based and international individuals. However, Monopoly Market was founded as a drug-only marketplace.
Established in 2019, the infrastructure for Monopoly Market was first dismantled in December 2021 by German authorities. However, the previous operation remained under wraps until now. “Europol has been compiling intelligence packages based on troves of evidence provided by German authorities, who successfully seized the marketplace’s criminal infrastructure in December 2021,” Europol said.
“These target packages, created by cross-matching and analyzing the collected data and evidence, served as the basis for hundreds of national investigations.”
One hundred and fifty-three of the 288 vendors and buyers were arrested 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, and one each in Poland and Brazil.
“Our coalition of law enforcement authorities across three continents proves that we all do better when we work together,” said Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle. “This operation sends a strong message to criminals on the dark web: international law enforcement has the means and the ability to identify and hold you accountable for your illegal activities, even on the dark web.”
See More: Cybercriminal Marketplace Genesis Market Seized, 120 Arrested
Operation SpecTor resulted in more arrests than 2020’s Operation DisrupTor, which resulted in 179 arrests and 2021’s Dark HunTor, which led to 150 arrests.
While the previous operation against Monopoly Market focused on dismantling its infrastructure, SpecTor aimed to end its malicious operations by going after its vendors and buyers.
Moreover, it also aimed at disrupting opioid and fentanyl trafficking over the dark web. Besides the arrests, law enforcement seized 258 kg of amphetamines, 43 kg of cocaine, 43 kg of MDMA, and over 10 kg of LSD and ecstasy pills.
“The availability of dangerous substances like fentanyl on dark net marketplaces is helping to fuel the crisis that has claimed far too many American lives. That’s why we will continue to join forces with our law enforcement partners around the globe to attack this problem together,” said FBI director Christopher Wray.
“The FBI is proud to stand with our domestic and foreign partners as we continue to shine that light into the deepest corners of the dark net and hold those accountable who continue to peddle this poison around the world.”
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Image source: Shutterstock
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