We can talk about this topic for a long time, but the best advertising for the Darknet is done by the governments of the United States and other countries. Law enforcement struggles to deal with online crime, so every time government agencies manage to shut down a certain platform, they feel proud and cannot resist spreading this information. They then make fictional and documentary films in which they portray themselves as modern-day heroes and exceptional geniuses as villains. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people learn about the Darknet, the possibilities of remaining anonymous online, and come up with new and more sophisticated schemes for anonymous trading of illegal substances and services.
Today, I propose to recall some significant events of past years related to the arrests of certain trading platforms.
Silk Road - a trading platform launched in 2011 and closed in 2013. The founder of the trading platform, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested by US law enforcement agencies. The events surrounding Ross and the trading platform have been adapted into multiple films, which greatly contributed to the development of Darknet trading. Ross was caught by law enforcement due to several critical mistakes unrelated to the anonymous TOR network.
The next significant event for illegal trading in the Darknet was the international operation Bayonet. As part of this operation, two trading platforms, AlphaBay and Hansa, were shut down.
AlphaBay was launched in 2014 and closed in 2017, and at the time of its closure, it was ten times larger than its predecessor Silk Road. AlphaBay had two administrators, Alexandre Cazes (who was arrested and later committed suicide) and DeSnake (who was not identified and relaunched the trading platform in 2021, but performed an exit scam in 2023). Cazes was caught because he made a series of critical mistakes unrelated to the anonymous TOR network, specifically using a personal email that led to his de-anonymization. AlphaBay was shut down in July 2017.
Hansa was also shut down 16 days after AlphaBay's closure, as these two trading platforms were considered the largest at the time, and law enforcement agencies put on a show for the sellers. By the time AlphaBay was closed, the administrators of Hansa had already been arrested. Law enforcement authorities located the servers of Hansa and discovered that the administrators had left their full names and even addresses in their chats. Subsequently, the authorities arrested the administrators and took control of the trading platform. They made several changes to the code of the platform and focused on identifying the real identities of sellers and buyers. When it became impossible to hide the fact that the platform was no longer under the control of the true administrators, it was shut down.
This marked the end of Operation Bayonet. As part of this operation, law enforcement hoped to undermine trust in the TOR network, but their hopes were not realized. Instead, sellers learned from the mistakes made by those who were caught and became smarter.
You may have also heard about other large-scale government operations against illegal activities in the darknet, for example:
Operation DisrupTor was conducted in 2020 as a result of an investigation that arose after the seizure of Wall Street Market in 2019. Within this operation, 179 people were arrested.
Operation Disarray was conducted in 2018 and was the first operation carried out by the Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE). As part of this operation, 160 individuals involved in the purchase or sale of substances in the darknet were identified.
Operation SaboTor, conducted by J-CODE in 2019, resulted in the arrest of at least 61 individuals involved in darknet sales.
Operation SpecTor, which took place recently, became one of the largest of its kind. At least 288 people were arrested and Monopoly Market was shut down.
These numbers may seem shocking to the average person, but they are just a drop in the ocean. Throughout the existence of the darknet, there have been many arrests and seizures. Upon closer examination, we can always understand that if we avoid simple mistakes, we can remain anonymous and unidentified by law enforcement, even if a marketplace has been closed by them. I will try to explain with one image that working in the darknet can be a thousand times safer than working on the streets. Below are UN data on the number of seizures and the amount seized in 2020. Even if we add up all the seizures and arrests related to darknet activities over the years, this number will be hundreds of times smaller.
Today, I propose to recall some significant events of past years related to the arrests of certain trading platforms.
Silk Road - a trading platform launched in 2011 and closed in 2013. The founder of the trading platform, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested by US law enforcement agencies. The events surrounding Ross and the trading platform have been adapted into multiple films, which greatly contributed to the development of Darknet trading. Ross was caught by law enforcement due to several critical mistakes unrelated to the anonymous TOR network.
The next significant event for illegal trading in the Darknet was the international operation Bayonet. As part of this operation, two trading platforms, AlphaBay and Hansa, were shut down.
AlphaBay was launched in 2014 and closed in 2017, and at the time of its closure, it was ten times larger than its predecessor Silk Road. AlphaBay had two administrators, Alexandre Cazes (who was arrested and later committed suicide) and DeSnake (who was not identified and relaunched the trading platform in 2021, but performed an exit scam in 2023). Cazes was caught because he made a series of critical mistakes unrelated to the anonymous TOR network, specifically using a personal email that led to his de-anonymization. AlphaBay was shut down in July 2017.
Hansa was also shut down 16 days after AlphaBay's closure, as these two trading platforms were considered the largest at the time, and law enforcement agencies put on a show for the sellers. By the time AlphaBay was closed, the administrators of Hansa had already been arrested. Law enforcement authorities located the servers of Hansa and discovered that the administrators had left their full names and even addresses in their chats. Subsequently, the authorities arrested the administrators and took control of the trading platform. They made several changes to the code of the platform and focused on identifying the real identities of sellers and buyers. When it became impossible to hide the fact that the platform was no longer under the control of the true administrators, it was shut down.
This marked the end of Operation Bayonet. As part of this operation, law enforcement hoped to undermine trust in the TOR network, but their hopes were not realized. Instead, sellers learned from the mistakes made by those who were caught and became smarter.
You may have also heard about other large-scale government operations against illegal activities in the darknet, for example:
Operation DisrupTor was conducted in 2020 as a result of an investigation that arose after the seizure of Wall Street Market in 2019. Within this operation, 179 people were arrested.
Operation Disarray was conducted in 2018 and was the first operation carried out by the Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE). As part of this operation, 160 individuals involved in the purchase or sale of substances in the darknet were identified.
Operation SaboTor, conducted by J-CODE in 2019, resulted in the arrest of at least 61 individuals involved in darknet sales.
Operation SpecTor, which took place recently, became one of the largest of its kind. At least 288 people were arrested and Monopoly Market was shut down.
These numbers may seem shocking to the average person, but they are just a drop in the ocean. Throughout the existence of the darknet, there have been many arrests and seizures. Upon closer examination, we can always understand that if we avoid simple mistakes, we can remain anonymous and unidentified by law enforcement, even if a marketplace has been closed by them. I will try to explain with one image that working in the darknet can be a thousand times safer than working on the streets. Below are UN data on the number of seizures and the amount seized in 2020. Even if we add up all the seizures and arrests related to darknet activities over the years, this number will be hundreds of times smaller.
