US and German officials have seized what they have described as the world’s largest and most prominent darknet market, according to Bloomberg. The Hydra Market, a darknet market that traffics illicit goods and services, was shut down, with wallets containing $25 million worth of Bitcoin confiscated by German police. Charges were brought to 30-year-old Dmitry Pavlov, a Russian resident, for conspiracy to distribute narcotics and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection to his operation and administration of Hydra Net servers. Hydra Net offered a wide variety of illegal goods and services, including hacking software, fake IDs, and drugs.
This is the second major bust in the last couple of days. According to Bitcoinist, federal prosecutors in Miami have confiscated roughly $34 million in cryptocurrency from a man suspected of exploiting the dark web to sell Netflix, HBO, and Uber account information, among other popular services. The crypto holdings in question were initially valued at $47 million, but because of the drop in the price of the world’s most sought-after cryptocurrency during the last six months, its current value is at $34 million. This represents one of the largest ever seizures of cryptocurrency in the US. Between 2015 and 2017, the perpetrator allegedly perpetrated more than 100,000 fraudulent online transactions.
The dark web remains a huge thorn in the side of law enforcement and there are limited ways to catch the perpetrators. However, the police are clearly getting better at investigating digital crime and working together with multiple agencies in order to pinpoint who remains behind these increasing crimes. To locate a new suspect is incredibly difficult but remains only the first part of the investigation. Proving beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law is where the hurdles really lie.
Displacing criminals in a huge game of whack-a-mole is still an affective tactic used by law enforcement and remains the best way to disperse dark web marketplaces which are the hub of further digital and physical crimes.