Police from the Tel Aviv Police Cybercrime Unit have arrested two Israeli citizens accused of running a Dark Net media site called “Deepdotweb.”
Several other French, German, Dutch and Brazilian nationals have also been arrested in an operation coordinated between local authorities and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The undercover operation has reportedly been underway for two months, but was only announced upon the arrest of the suspects.
Israeli media site the Jerusalem Post characterizes the Deepdotweb site as, “…a gateway link to other sites hawking illegal goods and services.”
Deepdotweb allegedly provided referral services to and processed sales on behalf of numerous Dark Net Marketplaces (DNMs), where weapons, stolen credit card details, drugs, prostitution, and other illicit products and services can be procured.
“On May 7, both (Deepdotweb’s) clearnet and darknet domains were seized, and the operators arrested and slapped with money laundering charges…and Deepdotweb became inaccessible.”
In March, 61 people were arrested and 50 Darknet accounts shut down following a joint operation against Dark Net opioid markets executed by J-CODE, the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team. The busts came as a result of Operation SaboTor, “a coordinated international effort targeting drug trafficking organizations operating on the Darknet.”
In April, two men who ran a Dark Net website called NextDayGear were convicted in New York for allegedly manufacturing and distributing thousands of packages of injectable and oral steroids as well as drugs to counter the effects of steroid use.
The government says the men “laundered and converted to cash” at least $2.8 million in cryptocurrencies they received during the course of operations.
Two other men accused of running a drug market on the Dark Net were indicted in New York in April for allegedly selling, “…hundreds of thousands of counterfeit Xanax tablets and other controlled substances to buyers in 43 states.”
“I feel TPTB [the powers that be] are working on a big operation for this summer…It all adds up to that. They have been testing the waters with DDoS attacks and seizures. Now that they know the DDoS attacks can cripple the markets without much done to prevent it, they’ll start shutting down the sources of information to keep people from being able to alert the community once the real OP starts…The Hub, DNA, Dread will be attacked even more. DDW was seized because the Tor based DDoS attack wouldn’t have taken down their clearnet site. Now with the DNMs in chaos and everyone scrambling to various sites, they’ll start the OP in earnest and will prevent the spread of information in the meantime.”