International operation dismantles Kingdom Market
The international collaboration leads to the seizure of the servers and the discovery of new investigative leads
German authorities, in collaboration with the USA, Switzerland and Moldova, have busted the virtual darknet black market, Kingdom Market. This portal sold drugs, cybercrime kits and fake documents, accepting payments in cryptocurrencies. The seizure of the servers made it possible to launch investigations to identify the operators of the platform. The same success was achieved in the fight against ALPHV ransomware, with the FBI managing to infiltrate the network.
In a collaborative effort of international scope, German authorities have completed a decisive intervention against the virtual black market Kingdom Market. This platform, accessible via the darknet, was a lively trading environment for narcotics, cybercrime kits and counterfeit documents. It was later discovered that one of the individuals linked to this platform is a Slovakian citizen, known in the virtual world as “Vendor”. This joint effort involved the United States, Switzerland and Moldova.
The analysis of the servers opens new investigations
The operation led to the seizure of the Kingdom Market servers, which are now under examination to reconstruct the identity of the network operators. The market in question, since its debut in March 2021, has recorded the sale of over 42,000 items. Among these, the German police say, around 3,600 products came from Germany, with the site having accumulated "tens of thousands" of users and hundreds of seller profiles.
Payment Methodology and Black Market Fees
The administrators of Kingdom Market had implemented a payment system that took advantage of the anonymity guaranteed by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero and Zcash. With a fee set at 3% on transactions, the financial mechanism supported the movement of illegitimate goods through their platform, facilitating criminal activity in anonymity.
Other successes in the fight against cybercrime
This is just the latest in a series of victories for the authorities in their battle against cybercrime. The same week, the US Department of Justice reported a successful infiltration of the ALPHV (BlackCat) ransomware network by the FBI. The consequences of this intervention allowed the monitoring and decryption of the compromised data. The ALPHV dismantling operation involved an international task force, including Europol and numerous European and non-European investigative agencies.
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