To become an Incognito Market vendor, people were required to register with the site and pay an admission fee. In exchange for listing and selling narcotics as a vendor on Incognito Market, each vendor paid 5% of the purchase price of every narcotic sold. That revenue funded Incognito Market’s operations, including paying “employee” salaries and for computer servers.
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During the investigation, federal law enforcement seized cryptocurrency valued at $75 million at the time of the seizures, as well as cash and precious metals. Following the threads from the seized data, the two agencies apprehended the drug dealers. They seized $6.5 million in crypto and cash, 500kg in drugs—274kg of which was seized in the US, and the 63 guns. Authorities arrested 123 North Americans, including two in Canada, and a further 58 in Europe; in Germany, authorities arrested 42. In Operation DisrupTor (a play on words; Tor is a privacy-first browser that acts as a gateway to the dark web), law enforcement used information obtained from the takedown of the darknet market, Wall Street Market, in May 2019, to trace criminals.
To facilitate these financial transactions, Incognito Market had its own “bank,” which allowed its users to deposit cryptocurrency on the site into their own accounts. After a narcotics transaction was completed, cryptocurrency from the buyer’s account was transferred to the seller’s account, less the 5% fee that Incognito collected. The site had attracted more than 600,000 users worldwide, raking in at least €250 million ($290 million) in transactions. “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,” Europol said. The EDTF is the premier money laundering task force in the nation and comprises more than 200 law enforcement personnel representing approximately 35 federal, state and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
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While headlines about “crypto-linked money laundering” can temporarily reinforce negative perceptions among the uninitiated, the community’s prevailing sentiment is that such clean-ups are essential for long-term growth and trust in the digital asset space. The immediate aftermath of a major darknet crypto exchange bust, such as the RAKS collapse, typically sends a ripple of apprehension through the broader cryptocurrency market. While RAKS operated outside the legitimate financial system, its dismantling, involving a substantial $224 million in laundered funds, inevitably fuels discussions about crypto’s association with illicit activities. Historically, similar high-profile busts, like the 2013 Silk Road takedown, have led to temporary dips in major cryptocurrency prices, with Bitcoin experiencing a notable decline before quickly recovering.
Such signatures are intended to confirm that vendors still have access to their accounts and have not been arrested or compromised. While the method has its limitations, HugBunter argued that failure to provide a cryptographic signature alongside continued account activity could be telling. On the Reddit-style dark web forum known as “Dread,” users are trying to determine which vendors were compromised by the operation, Straight Arrow News found. Most of the arrests were made in the U.S., which is in the grips of an overdose crisis. Coin Edition is an independent digital media company that focuses on news from the blockchain and crypto space. “Other marketplaces will take advantage of this and they might have an increase in traffic to their marketplace,” he said.
- These included an advanced encryption program known as “Pretty Good Privacy” and a cryptocurrency called Monero.
- The alleged administrator of the marketplace, a 30-year-old German national, was also arrested in Spain.
- Policing involves targeting specific activities of the private web deemed illegal or subject to internet censorship.
- OFAC’s designation of Parsarad was the result of strong partnership and coordination with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, FinCEN, and a range of European law enforcement partners.
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It seized 50.8 million euros ($53.4 million) in cash and virtual currencies, 850 kilograms of drugs, and 117 firearms were seized in a series of raids in several countries. One defendant in California led an organization that bought fentanyl in bulk, pressed it into pills with methamphetamine and sold millions of pills to thousands of people on the dark web, he said. Adding another layer of pressure, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also slapped sanctions on Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, identified as the operator of the Nemesis marketplace.
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Federal prosecutors have accused the men of operating 10 virtual storefronts on 17 different dark web marketplaces from September 2018 through February, the department said in a statement. Law enforcement agencies from around the globe arrested 288 people suspected of buying or selling drugs on the dark web. In a pair of press releases posted on Tuesday, the US Department of Justice and Europol said the joint effort also resulted in the shutdown of the dark web marketplace, Monopoly Market. The other emerging issue is that current policing efforts treat dark web markets as the core threat, which might miss the wider landscape of digital harms. Illicit drug sales, for example, are promoted on social media, where platform features such as recommendation systems are affording new means of illicit drug supply.
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Further confounding efforts, these multiple markets are often scattered across different regions and jurisdictions, requiring significant international cooperation to drive operations. In 2025, agencies will need to deploy a combination of advanced cyber tools, including AI-driven pattern recognition, blockchain analysis, and network infiltration strategies, to track illicit activity across multiple channels. The dark underbelly of the cryptocurrency world was dealt a significant blow today, September 30, 2025, as Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM) announced the successful dismantling of the RAKS crypto exchange. Operating as a sophisticated money laundering hub, RAKS facilitated the illicit movement of over $224 million in criminal proceeds, primarily stemming from online fraud and drug trafficking across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The collapse of RAKS, which saw its operations cease abruptly on September 29-30, 2025, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing global fight against financial crime leveraging digital assets.
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Others, particularly those based in Russia, focus solely on info stealer hacking tools and brokering stolen data. In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned individual may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
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A nine-count indictment was unsealed in the Western District of Tennessee charging six alleged members of a criminal street gang known as Unknown Vice Lords (UVL) – Ghost Mob with… In 2020, he was named alongside his colleagues as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in explanatory reporting. Previously, he worked at the New York Times and volunteered as a first responder for refugees arriving on the shores of Lesvos. A screenshot of the marketplace shared by the DOJ in the statement showed cocaine available for bulk purchase from JoyInc on Drughub, a dark web site.
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Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. Persons are also prohibited from causing or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to wittingly or unwittingly violate U.S. sanctions, as well as engaging in conduct that evades U.S. sanctions. Visitors to the Archetyp Market website are now greeted by a banner detailing the takedown.
As darknet markets grow more fragmented and boutique, traditional law enforcement methods are becoming increasingly ineffective. The shift toward specialized platforms with heightened security measures makes tracking illicit activity even more challenging, requiring innovative approaches and advanced tools. CACI’s DarkBlue Intelligence Suite is designed to address these exact challenges, offering comprehensive monitoring and analysis of the dark web’s most secure and decentralized spaces. With AI-enhanced threat detection, real-time dark web access through DarkPursuit, and detailed insights into evolving criminal networks, DarkBlue provides the intelligence needed to stay one step ahead in this rapidly changing environment. Nemesis was established in 2021 and operated as a criminal marketplace on the darknet, an encrypted network within the Internet that can only be accessed with special anonymity-enhancing browsers.
