The U.S. Department of Justice announced the end of a transnational investigation into the dark web xDedic cybercrime marketplace, charging 19 suspects for their involvement in running and using the market's services.
An international operation involving law enforcement authorities from the United States, Belgium, Ukraine, Germany, and the Netherlands, with support from Europol and Eurojust, led to the seizure of xDedic's domains and infrastructure in January 2019.
Law enforcement estimated at the time of its takedown that fraudulent activities facilitated through the xDedic cybercrime market totaled more than $68 million.
XDedic's administrators operated servers worldwide, using cryptocurrency payments to hide the location of their servers and the identities of the buyers, sellers, and admins.
xDedic allowed users to buy stolen credentials to compromised servers worldwide and U.S. residents' personally identifiable information.
Victims whose information was sold on the marketplace came from various industries and locations worldwide, including local, state, and federal government entities, hospitals, universities, metropolitan transport authorities, accounting and law firms, and pension funds.
12 out of the 19 suspects charged following the international investigation into xDedic's activity have already been sentenced, five are scheduled to receive a sentence, and two are pending extradition from the United Kingdom.
Theft Extradition pending Oluwaseyi Shodipe Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated id.
Two xDedic administrators, Moldovan Alexandru Habasescu and Ukrainian Pavlo Kharmanskyi, were sentenced to 41 and 30 months in prison after being arrested in the Spanish Canary Islands in 2022 and the Miami International Airport in 2019, respectively.
Habasescu was also the market's lead developer and technical mastermind, while Kharmanskyi was the one who paid the admins, provided buyer support, and promoted the cybercrime website.
Levinson was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison after his apprehension in the United Kingdom and extradition to the United States in 2020.
Last year, law enforcement also seized the Genesis stolen credentials market and arrested 288 dark web drug vendors and buyers as part of an international law enforcement operation codenamed Spector.
In June, the FBI seized the BreachForums hacking forum after arresting its owner Connor Brian Fitzpatrick, in March.
Last but not least, in December, an international police operation led by Interpol led to the arrests of 3,500 cybercriminals and seizures of $300 million, while German police seized Kingdom Market, a dark web marketplace that dealt with cybercrime tools, drugs, and fake government IDs.
The law enforcement operations targeting cybercrime in 2023.
BidenCash darkweb market gives 1.9 million credit cards for free.
German police takes down Kingdom Market cybercrime marketplace.
FBI disrupts Blackcat ransomware operation, creates decryption tool.
Zeppelin ransomware source code sold for $500 on hacking forum.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Fri, 05 Jan 2024 21:20:11 +0000