International authorities collaborated to shut down one of the largest dark web marketplaces, DarkMarket, in 2021, which led to the arrest of 150 alleged drug vendors. Lin was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on May 18 and was presented in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Archetyp Market, which boasted more than 600,000 users, operated for more than five years and contained more than 17,000 listings for illicit substances, including cocaine, MDMA and amphetamines. Europol also said the market allowed the sale of fentanyl and “other highly potent synthetic opioids.”Authorities seized the site’s online infrastructure, which was hosted in the Netherlands, and arrested its 30-year-old German administrator in Barcelona, Spain.
Since that time, and through its closing in March, Incognito Market sold more than $100 million of narcotics — including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamines. European law enforcement agencies have dismantled Archetyp Market, a long-running dark web platform used primarily for drug sales, following a coordinated international operation called Operation Deep Sentinel spanning six countries. The takedown brings an end to a major online drug marketplace that had operated largely uninterrupted for over five years. “With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web’s longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world’s most dangerous substances,” said Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, deputy executive director of operations at Europol. The dismantling of Archetyp Market, one of the longest-running and largest dark web drug marketplaces, highlights international law enforcement’s coordinated efforts to combat the global illegal drug trade and address the distribution of dangerous substances such as fentanyl. Over its five years in operation, Archetyp Market recorded over 612,000 users and facilitated €250 million worth of illicit sales.
When the admins “exit scammed” and split the money members had deposited to the platform, the police traced the amounts and identified the administrators. In total, the Dutch police (Politie) and partners in Ireland, the UK, and the US seized over 8 million euros ($8.77M) worth of cryptocurrency from the two administrators. The largest number of arrests — 153 — were made in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom with 55 and Germany with 52, according to the European Union law enforcement agency Europol, which coordinated the worldwide operation. In another significant case, Brian McDonald of California copped a 20-year sentence after admitting he used various darknet aliases to sling fentanyl and cocaine nationwide. Tragically, investigators linked at least one confirmed overdose death directly to his operation.
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They hailed Operation RapTor as a major leap forward in tackling sophisticated criminal outfits that try to hide their fentanyl and opioid sales under the veil of dark web anonymity. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team spearheaded this international initiative, teaming up closely with Europol and numerous law enforcement agencies throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. Officials are calling Operation RapTor the most successful JCODE effort yet, both in terms of the sheer amount of contraband seized and the number of suspects apprehended.
- In the US, the arrests fell under the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, which includes investigators from FBI and the United States Postal Service.
- “The takedown follows years of intensive investigative work to map the platform’s technical architecture and identify the individuals behind it,” Europol said.
- In stepped Empire Market which appeared in February 2018 (about 6-7 months after the demise of AlphaBay/Hansa) and soon became the leader of the Western darknet market ecosystem.
- Local, state, and other federal agencies also contributed to Operation SpecTor investigations through task force participation and regional partnerships.
- This coordinated effort involved law enforcement agencies from the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, demonstrating the global reach required to combat sophisticated cybercriminal networks.
Staying Protected Against Digital Intrusions
The DHS Cyber Crimes Center (C3) combats cybercrime, online child sexual exploitation, and criminal exploitation of the internet with state-of-the-art forensic technology. The Center investigates large-scale cybercrime threats and provides expertise on cybercrime investigations to the field. It also uses global law enforcement networks, like Europol, to combat cybercrime threats. Operation RapTOR includes law enforcement actions taken by JCODE member agencies, to include ICE HSI; the DEA; FBI; FDA-OCI; IRS-CI; and USPIS; in addition to foreign partners listed below. Credible reporting from the referenced agencies, in addition to contributions from ATF; Army CID; CBP; Department of Treasury’s FinCEN and Office of Foreign Assets Control; and NCIS enabled domestic law enforcement actions in support of Operation RapTOR.
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Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan B. Finkel and Nicholas Chiuchiolo are in charge of the prosecution. A seizure notice has replaced the former marketplace, and a message directed at the underground economy has published. The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.
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In the US, Operation Disruptor plays out across dozens of court documents and around 120 arrests. In Ohio, members of a group known as PillCosby were charged with mailing out over a million pills laced with fentanyl. Prosecutors in Washington, DC, allege that David Brian Pate concealed thousands of OxyContin, Xanax, and morphine pills inside souvenir maracas. A pharmacist in Nebraska allegedly planned to firebomb a local competitor after stealing their opiate supply, in service of what officials say was his booming narcotics trafficking business. According to court records and the TRM Labs investigation, the end of Incognito was foreshadowed by chaos.
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The far-reaching success of Operation RapTor hinged on extensive cooperation between numerous agencies and international partners. In the U.S., crucial support came from the DEA, FBI, IRS-CI, HSI, USPIS, and the FDA OCI. On the international front, Europol and national police forces across ten countries were vital to the effort.
Police determined the sites carried out around 67,000 transactions each month, with record turnover of €12 million achieved in September 2023. Dutch police think the administrators personally made around €5 million from the operation before pulling the exit scam. The Archetyp Market homepage now displays an official seizure banner, a common police tactic to publicly mark the dismantling of illegal platforms and raise awareness. The agency, based in The Hague, built intelligence based on evidence from Germany, which it said seized the marketplace’s “criminal infrastructure” in December 2021. The seized drugs include 64 kilograms (141 pounds) of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics; over 258 kilograms (569 pounds) of amphetamines; 43 kilograms (95 pounds) of cocaine; 43 kilogram (95 pounds) of MDMA; and over 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of LSD and ecstasy pills, authorities said. One Archetyp Market moderator and six of the marketplace’s highest vendors were also arrested in Germany and Sweden.
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I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector. Regarding the announcement of the SuperMarket co-administrator in relation to the wallets emptied by the other administrator, this has happened in the past in other cases of the “domino effect” that occurs when law enforcement makes arrests in the underground community. There are more hypotheses to follow, but the most reasonable one is that there could be some relationship in terms of crypto accounts shared between ‘FatherBear’ and ‘Pharao’, which could lead to other traces. In this case, ‘FatherBear’ will keep a low profile for a while with all the money and then probably resurface with a different identity. In a LinkedIn post in April 2024, Lin shared some pictures from a “cybercrime and cryptocurrency training” at the Saint Lucia Police Academy.
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Its alleged administrator, a 30-year-old German national who has not yet been named, was cuffed by officers at his apartment in Barcelona, and “measures were taken in Germany and Sweden against one moderator and six of the marketplace’s highest vendors,” officials stated. Articles categorized as “left” provide more commentary on societal impacts, such as links between the marketplace and organized crime in Sweden, or focus on harm caused by synthetic opioids. In contrast, “right” sources tend to emphasize law enforcement success and U.S.-European cooperation, highlighting the logistics of the operation rather than the social aftermath. Archetyp Market facilitated a reported minimum of 250 million euros (about $290 million) in drug transactions over five years, with over 600,000 users, 3,200 vendors, and 17,000 listings.
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For the first time, FBI agents from all the bureau’s field offices also visited buyers to tell them about the overdose danger of pills sold online, which are often disguised to look like prescription drugs. However, during the raids, authorities seized the criminal infrastructures of the marketplace, which will provide investigators across the world with leads and evidence to identify more individuals behind dark web accounts. The operation, codenamed SpecTor, was done in collaboration with nine countries, including the US, UK, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, and Switzerland. While 155 of the arrests took place in the US, authorities seized $53.4 million in cash and digital currencies, 850kg (or 1,873 lbs) of drugs, and 117 firearms worldwide.
Since that time, and through its closing in March 2024, Incognito Market sold more than $100 million in narcotics — including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamines. Incognito Market was available globally to anyone with internet access and could be accessed using the Tor web browser on the dark web. As Pharoah — the leader of Incognito market — Lin supervised all of its operations, including its employees, vendors and customers, and had ultimate decision-making authority over every aspect of the multimillion-dollar operation. The law enforcement operation took the marketplace’s infrastructure offline in the Netherlands and led to the arrest of a 30-year-old German national, identified as the administrator. German and Swedish authorities also arrested one moderator and six of the marketplace’s top vendors, seizing assets worth €7.8 million. The arrests stem from the December 2021 seizure of the infrastructure supporting the Monopoly Market, a darknet drug marketplace dating back to 2019.
A moderator and six prominent vendors were arrested simultaneously in other countries, and officers seized assets worth about $9 million. Examples include the sale of high-quality products with low risk for contamination (including lacing and cutting), vendor-tested products, sharing of trip reports, and online discussion of harm reduction practices. Some health professionals such as “DoctorX” provide information, advice and drug-testing services on the darknet.140 The quality of products is attributed to the competition and transparency of darknet markets139 which involve user feedback and reputation features.
This massive undertaking stretched across four continents, with investigators working together in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and South Korea. Officials announced they recovered over two metric tons of drugs, a haul that included a hefty 144 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced substances, alongside some 180 firearms. Listings included offerings of prescription medication that was advertised as being authentic but was not. For example, in November 2023, an undercover law enforcement agent received several tablets that purported to be oxycodone, which were purchased on Incognito Market. Testing on those tablets revealed that they were not authentic oxycodone at all and were, in fact, fentanyl pills.
“By tracing financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence, and working closely with partners on the ground, authorities were able to deliver a decisive blow to one of the most prolific drug markets on the dark web,” it added. Dutch police revealed that the investigation into Bohemia and Cannabia spanned from late 2022 to the end of 2023. Following this period, both marketplaces experienced several operational disruptions before ultimately shutting down. Europol, which is based in The Hague, built its intelligence on evidence from Germany, which seized the marketplace’s “criminal infrastructure” in December 2021, the agency said. The seized drugs included 141 pounds of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, more than 569 pounds of amphetamines, 95 pounds of cocaine, 95 pounds of MDMA and 22 pounds of LSD and ecstasy pills, authorities said.
