Friday, March 29, 2024

Law Enforcement Takes Down Dark Web Marketplaces

U.S. and international law enforcement officials have taken down AlphaBay and Hansa Market, two of the most well-known places to buy drugs and other illegal merchandise over the Internet. Both were part of the dark web, which is only accessible to people using the Tor network.

Around the same time that the two sites went offline, Thai officials arrested Alexander Cazes, one of the developers behind AlphaBay, at the request of U.S. officials. A week later Cazes was found dead in his cell of an apparent suicide. The government seized Cazes’ assets, which included more than $5 million in Bitcoin, $1.8 million in Ethereum, $760,000 in Zcash, a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador, a Porsche Panamera S, a BMW motorcycle, a Mini Cooper and several pieces of real estate.

AlphaBay hosted a reported $1 billion in transactions during its three years of operation.

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