The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany and the internet-crime combating unit of Frankfurt have announced the seizure of Kingdom Market, a dark web marketplace for drugs, cybercrime tools, and fake government IDs.
The law enforcement operation also included authorities from the United States, Switzerland, Moldova, and Ukraine, while one of the administrators has been arrested in the US. Kingdom Market was an English-speaking marketplace on the dark web with international reach that has operated since March 2021.
Platform members sold drugs, malware, cybercrime services, stolen personal information, and forged documents, and paid in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and Zcash.
According to a BKA press release, the marketplace hosted 42,000 items for sale, 3,600 of which were from Germany.
The authorities mention that Kingdom Market had tens of thousands of customer accounts and several hundred registered sellers.
BKA's press release concludes that investigations to identify the people who operated the illegal market are underway, now also aided by analysis of the seized server infrastructure.
US court documents state that Alan Bill was arrested on December 15, 2023, with the US government unsealing the complaint against the suspect yesterday.
On Dread, a Reddit-like darknet forum, users claiming to be members of the now-seized platform mourn the money lost, which they had deposited on Kingdom Market's escrow for future purchases.
Dread staff mentions unofficial information about the arrest of multiple individuals who had access to the market's server infrastructure.
A message sent by the German authorities using the market's official PGP key to registered members initially raised suspicion in the community, with many calling out the operators for exit scamming.
BKA's official announcement today about the seizure confirmed that it was a law enforcement operation.
With Kingdom Market offline and the chances of its return being slim, other market operators have already taken to Dread to invite sellers to join their platforms.
Ex-Navy IT head gets 5 years for selling people's data on darkweb.
How the FBI seized BlackCat ransomware's servers.
US detains suspects behind $80 million 'pig butchering' scheme.
Microsoft disrupts cybercrime gang behind 750 million fraudulent accounts.
New cybercrime market 'OLVX' gains popularity among hackers.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 14:40:15 +0000