In an innovative blow to illicit internet commerce, cyberpolice shut down the world's leading "dark net" marketplace – then quietly seized a second bazaar to amass intelligence on illicit drug merchants and buyers. AlphaBay, formerly the internet's largest dark net site, had already gone offline July 5 with the arrest in Thailand of its alleged creator and administrator. But Thursday, European law enforcement revealed that Dutch cyberpolice had for a month been running Hansa Market.
The announcements Thursday on both sides of the Atlantic sowed panic among the sites' tech-savvy buyers and vendors.
Nicolas Christin, a dark net expert at Carnegie Mellon University, called the one-two takedown punch "psychological warfare".
Dutch cybercrime prosecutor Martijn Egberts said Dutch police had scooped up some 10,000 addresses for Hansa buyers outside Holland.
Running the site was a challenge, Egberts said, with police forced to mediate frequent disputes between buyers and sellers.
Seasoned buyers and sellers aren't likely to get tripped up, and will simply become more cautious, Christin said.
After a November 2014 takedown called Operation Onymous took down more sites, the illicit markets not only recovered – but grew.
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