Reports are coming in that an investigation led by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh, and supported by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), has resulted in the shut down of online forum Darkode.com and the arrest of 12 people in connection with the invitation-only web portal.1
Category Archives: Darkmarkets
US Seeks Extradition Of Irish Silk Road Administrator
The Irish Times reports (archive) the United States is seeking the extradition of alleged Silk Road administrator Gary Davis AKA Libertas in relation to charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Continue reading
UK Student Convicted On Darknet Drugs Purchase
Having plead guilty (archive) to a charge of importing a Class B drug into the UK, 25 year old student Gary Trouve now faces 250 hours of community service as punishment for the 145 grams of "herbal cannabis" he purchased using bitcoin via an unnamed darknet market.
Trouve came to the attention of the UK authorities earlier this year when a parcel pertaining to contain specialist welding equipment was intercepted by customs officers who instead found it to contain cannabis. Having been notified, Humberside Police subsequently attended the residence of Trouve who then gave a full confession of his crime. Continue reading
Pressure in the United States Mounts to Ban Symbols of Rebellion Against Federal Government
Recently agitators in the United States along with officials in various government capacities have been exploiting a recent minor tragedy to in an effort to censor the most potent symbol of rebellion against the federal government of the United States. In mere anticipation of backlash retailers including Walmart, Ebay, Google shopping, and the Apple App Store have pre-emptively removed all merchandise with the image of the Rebel Flag from sale. What sort of crime could make the ultimate symbol of rebellion against the federal government of the United States, one which was actually flown in combat against the Axis powers in World War II. Continue reading
Online Drug Trade Booming Despite Silk Road Shut Down & Ulbricht's Subsequent Life Sentence
2015's Global Drug Survey (archive) – which collected data from over 100,000 respondents across 50 countries via platforms such as The Guardian (archive) and Fairfax Media (archive) – has revealed what most people already knew: that people are increasingly turning to online darknet markets to facilitate the purchase of drugs and use bitcoin to pay for them; 2014 saw an increase in the number of newcomers to the darknet markets; people experienced less physical violence, threats to personal safety, blackmail and threats to reveal one's identity when buying drugs online and more often received the correct product. However, darknet marketplace participants experienced more theft, pricing volatility and waited longer to receive their orders. Questions and data released in the report include: Continue reading
Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison
Convicted of seven offences last February, Ross William Ulbricht was today (archive) sentenced to life in prison with no parole for the part he played in the operation of the Silk Road. In addition to his life sentence, Ulbricht has been ordered to pay the United States Government USD $183,961,921 despite the fact it has already sold a majority of the coins it confiscated from Ulbricht via the USMS auctions.
Speaking to the life sentence she handed down, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest said: Continue reading
DoJ Charges Dark Market Coupon Merchant
The US Department of Justice reports (archive) it has charged a Louisiana man with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit trademark counterfeiting. Beau Wattigney AKA PurpleLotus/GoldenLotus/MoxDiamond and NickMode is alleged to have sold counterfeit coupons on the original Silk Road and later Blake Benthall's Silk Road 2.0. The coupons entitled the bearer to massive discounts on products such as US $50 Visa Gift Cards which could be purchased for $0.01 each. Wattigney is alleged to have defrauded more than 50 manufacturers, retailers and online coupon retailers in excess of US $1,000,000. Continue reading
Four Australians Among 21 Arrested For Firearm Purchases
Australian newspaper The Herald Sun reports (archive) that four Australians are among 21 people arrested by a joint Australian and American taskforce aimed at curbing the online purchase of firearms with bitcoin on the dark web. Continue reading
UK Man Sentenced To Six Years Prison
A young man from Cambridge (archive) in the UK has been sentenced to prison having plead guilty to charges related to the production of MDMA and the possession of Ketamine and Heroin. 22 year old Callum Fay was first arrested back in June of 2012 after local police were informed by the UK Border Agency that Fay was importing Cocaine from India. Continue reading
Deep Web Marketplace Go-Betweener Faces 20 Years Jail
Having previously plead not guilty to charges related to the arbitrage of drugs purchased via the deep web and sold to IRL customers, 23 year old Joseph Patrick Gelli of Lexington, South Carolina last week plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Count 12, to which Gelli plead guilty, states that between June 2013 through to July 2014 Gelli purchased bitcoin from Coinbase in order to facilitate the purchase of drugs via an unnamed deep web marketplace so that it could later be onsold for a profit. Continue reading
