Europol and Eurojust coordinated efforts, enabling arrests and asset seizures. A seizure banner now replaces the site, with further info and a video message to the underground posted at -deepsentinel.com. Europol supported the investigation from the outset, facilitating the exchange of intelligence, conducting extensive cross-checks and helping to identify high-value targets. On the action days, Europol deployed a dark web specialist to Germany and set up a virtual command post to coordinate field activities and ensure real-time deconfliction across jurisdictions. We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline.
International Police Operation Shuts Down €250 Million Darknet Drug Empire, Admin Arrested In Spain
Authorities from Europol, Eurojust and the United States assisted with the investigation. It is, of course, against the law to engage in unlawful activities such as downloading photographs of child abuse, inciting terrorism, or selling illicit goods like guns while remaining anonymous. The legal system is extremely harsh on those who engage in this kind of criminal activity. Approximately 70% of Vice City’s listings are for drugs and pharmaceuticals, with the total number of entries being around 10,000.
Dark Web Drug Marketplace ‘Archetyp Market’ Disassembled Across Europe
Moreover, it’s not only the entertainment industry that gets hit; some sell cracked versions of the most expensive software, and others offer pirated eBooks and academic material at cheap prices. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), all guns are manufactured legally. Therefore, it means that even the guns on the dark web start legally, but along the way from creation to purchasing, a lot of things happen, which makes it easier for the guns to end up on the dark market. The nature of the dark web (anonymity and privacy) opens opportunities for drug dealers to reach a wide customer base across the globe without getting caught.
Tor2door Market
The city’s strategic location as a major port and its role in the Mediterranean region enhance its attractiveness for investments in dark fiber infrastructure, further supporting its substantial market share. Government initiatives and investments in digital infrastructure are playing a vital role in driving the growth of the dark fiber network market in Spain. The Spanish government has recognized the importance of robust digital infrastructure as a key enabler of economic growth and competitiveness in the global market.
What are the current trends and activities in the Spanish cybercriminal underground? This time, our research puts a particular focus on the Spanish cybercriminal underground. We have gathered findings from Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, and other Spanish-speaking communities. In the past, we have researched regional trends in the cybercriminal underground, probing Latin American and Caribbean, North American, East Asian, and Middle Eastern areas.
Cyble Titan Endpoint Security
Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Analytics Insight, or any of its affiliates, officers or directors. Spanish police arrested the suspected 30-year-old German administrator in Barcelona. In Germany and Sweden, one moderator and six high-volume vendors were arrested. Tor2door Market includes 25,000+ listings with a 7% share and $4.5M monthly volume. In the first arc of the anime series Lupin the 3rd Part V, Lupin III steals digital currency from the “Marco Polo” darknet market.
Many of these users are from Spain’s largest cities, including Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville. These markets have more than 2,400 merchants who have made an incredible 321,000 transactions. More than 4,650 Bitcoins and 12,800 Monero were transferred on these platforms.
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- Europol said the takedown comes after years of investigation into the platform’s ‘technical architecture’ and the individuals behind it, adding that its findings were achieved by analysing digital forensic evidence.
- The hidden part of the internet is the larger portion that features over 95% of the entire internet.
- In a Vice documentary on drug sales on social media, it took the host just five minutes to connect with a dealer in London.
- Money mule recruitment services are often masked as “bank cashouts” or similar, which is deceitful, but not unheard of in these dark markets.
- The dark web is not a place that you can venture into without protection and caution; a slight slip-up can lead to major consequences.
Perhaps, the figures can tell you what your personal information is worth when it lands on the dark web. The cost can be exorbitant, but for victims, it’s always higher and devastating. For instance, stolen data can result in unauthorized payments, the draining of accounts, or even registered loans. Besides, not everyone wants to purchase an illegal item – some want items anonymously. Who doesn’t like privacy, especially when dealing with the buying and selling of illegal products and services? Therefore, given the nature of anonymity and privacy of the dark web, several stores keep on emerging in the dark despite a continuous crackdown on several others.
Law enforcement agencies from six countries successfully shut down Archetyp Market, one of the darknet’s most prominent drug marketplaces that operated for nearly five years since May 2020. The action week took place between 11 and 13 June, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key vendors and the servers running the website. Coordinated actions in five countries, carried out by around 300 officers, resulted in the arrest of the thirty year old administrator in Spain, seven other persons and the seizure of assets worth EUR 7.8 million. By taking Archetyp offline, authorities have dealt a severe blow to drug traffickers in Europe. We will keep monitoring new developments and report on new trends that will emerge in the cybercriminal underground. Another method is to use banking accounts that have been opened for a while, but owners who do not closely monitor this will not notice random deposits or withdrawals; some ads imply that the owner did not know about the fraud.
Archetyp Market
Russian Market has consistently remained one of the most popular and valuable data stores on the dark web. The platform’s activity has increased significantly over the past year, indicating its growing influence and market share in the underground economy. Valued at approximately $15 million, Abacus Market is one of the most lucrative platforms in the dark web ecosystem. In 2024, the platform grew significantly in popularity, partly because of its strategic acquisition of users from a number of recently shut-down marketplaces, such as AlphaBay and Incognito Market, which had recently closed their doors. You can use a dark web scan tool to tell if your data has landed on the dark web.
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Our team searched the dark web and put together a list of the most active dark web marketplaces in order to assist you in monitoring illegal trade of products, cybercrime activity, and dark web trends in the dark web space. Based on our observations from analysis on dark web data using Lunar, we’ve identified the top 7 marketplaces on the dark web in 2025. We developed Lunar to monitor the deep and dark web, including dark web marketplace sites. The most recent example is the shutdown of the oldest marketplace Hydra Market in 2022 which took a combined effort of the FBI and the German authorities.
For Pillofon and Turbocel we saw prices such as USD$3 (45 Mexican pesos) for 600 minutes. Analytics Insight is an award-winning tech news publication that delivers in-depth insights into the major technology trends that impact the markets. The content produced on this website is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or recommendation. Always conduct your own research or check with certified experts before investing, and be prepared for potential losses.
For operations security he suggests avoiding storing conversation logs, varying writing styles, avoiding mobile phone-based tracking and leaking false personal details to further obfuscate one’s identity. Whilst a great many products are sold, drugs dominate the numbers of listings, with the drugs including cannabis, MDMA, modafinil,108109110 LSD, cocaine, and designer drugs. One Archetyp Market moderator and six of the marketplace’s highest vendors were also arrested in Germany and Sweden.
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- The Abacus Market links to the new dark web marketplace sections and took over much of the vacuum left by the AlphaBay takedown.
- Law enforcement agencies actively monitor these markets and can track users despite anonymity measures.
- With over 17,000 listings, it is one of the few darknet markets that allowed the sale of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids, contributing to the growing threat posed by these substances in Europe and beyond.
- As part of its digital strategy, the government has launched several initiatives aimed at promoting the development of high-speed broadband networks, including the expansion of fiber-optic infrastructure across the country.
- Company reports highlight that the cost of extending fiber networks to less densely populated areas often outweighs the potential revenue, leading to slower adoption rates in these regions.
What makes this market popular is the fact that it’s less expensive compared to the rest. There are some things that you can’t find on the surface internet but are available in the darknet markets. Therefore, it’s almost impossible for authorities to track those who run the darknet markets or even their locations.
The sad reality is the fact that law enforcement agencies can’t track and prosecute perpetrators or even take down such content given the anonymous nature of the dark web. As much as authorities work hard to shut down various sites, it shows what the dark web is capable of doing if left unchecked. Discover everything about what is a darknet market, how it works, security threats related to it, and learn how to protect your data online. While some of these markets were shuttered by law enforcement agencies – some took the easy way out with exit scams. Here are some of the now-defunct dark web markets that were notorious for cybercrime.
It’s been a constant back-and-forth between cybercriminals and law enforcement, with each new site trying to be smarter and more secure than the last. As of 2020, nearly 57% of the dark web was estimated to contain illegal content, including violence and extremist platforms. Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools. Today’s cybercriminals spread their activities across multiple platforms, making them harder to track and shut down. The marketplace had more than 600,000 users with a total transaction volume of at least €250 million ($289 million).
