Designed to resemble a legitimate e-commerce platform, Incognito offered a slick user experience with branding, advertising, and customer support. Upon visiting the site via the Tor browser, users were greeted by a graphic interface and prompted to log in with a unique username and password. Inside, buyers could browse thousands of drug listings, many accompanied by reviews and ratings.
One defendant in California led an organization that bought fentanyl in bulk, pressed it into pills with methamphetamine and sold millions of pills to thousands of people on the dark web, he said. Your donation powers investigations that expose organized crime and corruption worldwide. Operation SpecTor spanned nine countries and brought down the illegal dark web marketplace Monopoly Market. According to US prosecutors, 38-year-old Thomas Pavey, aka “Dopenugget,” of Ormond beach, Florida, and 28-year-old Raheim Hamilton, aka “Sydney” and “Zero Angel,” of Suffolk, Virginia, ran Empire Market between 2018 and 2020. During this period, they allegedly facilitated four million underworld transactions valued at more than $430 million by federal prosecutors. In stepped Empire Market which appeared in February 2018 (about 6-7 months after the demise of AlphaBay/Hansa) and soon became the leader of the Western darknet market ecosystem.
- The arrest of Riu-Siang Lin, the former administrator of the closed Incognito marketplace, by the US authorities on 18th May is causing a domino effect in the underground illegal communities, leading to an alleged exit plan on the SuperMarket.
- In addition, Parsarad is also charged with money laundering conspiracy for both using proceeds to promote illegal drug dealing and for offering money laundering services through Nemesis Market by mixing cryptocurrencies used to pay for goods and services to obscure their origins.
- The superseding indictment was announced June 14 by HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo, acting U.S.
- Lin was the operator of Incognito Market, a major darknet hub that, between 2020 and 2024, handled over $100 million in illicit drug sales.
- Around 300 officers were deployed during the takedown, which resulted in the platform being taken offline, several arrests and the seizure of approximately €7.8m ($9m) in assets.
Darknet Marketplace Shutdown Upends Russia’s Illegal Drug Market
After the Biker DLC, players can now purchase buildings for illegal drugs and counterfeit products manufacture, and distribute them through a darknet website called “The Open Road” where law enforcement cannot be notified of the player’s trade. During the same operation, police officers in Europe, South America, Asia, and the United States also seized more than 2 tonnes of drugs (including amphetamines, cocaine, ketamine, opioids, and cannabis), over €184 million ($207 million) in cash and cryptocurrency, and over 180 firearms. The operation, dubbed SpecTor, also included the seizure of 117 firearms, 850 kilograms of drugs — including 64 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics — and $53.4 million in cash and virtual currencies, the U.S. The U.S. portion of the investigation was coordinated through the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, which includes the DOJ, FBI and DEA, among others. Investigations and prosecutions remain ongoing in more than 30 federal districts, the agency said in its statement.
The interagency efforts are aimed to both identify those who use anonymizing technologies to purchase illicit narcotics and direct them to available resources. Archetyp’s takedown adds to a growing list of darknet markets shut down by international task forces in recent years. Like Dream Market and Silk Road before it, Archetyp had gained a reputation within criminal circles for its reliability and scope.
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For example, in November 2023, an undercover law enforcement agent received several tablets that purported to be oxycodone, which were purchased on Incognito Market. Testing on those tablets revealed that they were not authentic oxycodone at all and were, in fact, fentanyl pills. OFAC’s designation of Parsarad was the result of strong partnership and coordination with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, FinCEN, and a range of European law enforcement partners. The indictment alleges that Parsarad founded Nemesis in March 2021, and that the marketplace grew to serve more than 150,000 users and register around 1,100 vendor accounts worldwide.
“Thousands of vendors advertised goods and services for sale on Empire Market, including controlled substances, compromised and stolen account credentials, stolen and counterfeit credit card information, and counterfeit currency, among others,” according to the pair’s indictment PDF. The two alleged administrators of Empire Market, a dark-web bazaar that peddled drugs, malware, digital fraud, and other illegal stuff, have been detained on charges related to owning and operating the illicit souk. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in collaboration with Europol, the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement Team, and various national and international partners, announced the results of Operation RapTOR May 22. This historic takedown, led by Europol, resulted in the highest number of seizures in JCODE’s history.
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Today, the Department of Justice, and its Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team and international partners, announced the results of Operation SpecTor, which included 288 arrests – the most ever for any JCODE operation and nearly double that of the prior operation. Law enforcement also conducted more seizures than any prior operation, including 117 firearms, 850 kilograms of drugs that include 64 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, and $53.4 million in cash and virtual currencies. Incognito Market was a globally available online narcotics bazaar active through Tor web since October 2020, when it was created by Lin. The marketplace was closed in March 2024 when Rui-Siang Lin, under his online pseudonym “Pharoah” or “Faro,” allegedly committed an exit scam.
In another significant case, Brian McDonald of California copped a 20-year sentence after admitting he used various darknet aliases to sling fentanyl and cocaine nationwide. Tragically, investigators linked at least one confirmed overdose death directly to his operation. This massive undertaking stretched across four continents, with investigators working together in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and South Korea. Officials announced they recovered over two metric tons of drugs, a haul that included a hefty 144 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced substances, alongside some 180 firearms. Listings included offerings of prescription medication that was advertised as being authentic but was not.
What People Are Saying
This monumental action, part of a joint initiative codenamed Operation Deep Sentinel, was led by German authorities in collaboration with Europol and Eurojust. The multi-day enforcement efforts between June 11 and 13 spanned six nations — Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Romania, and others — and led to multiple arrests, asset seizures, and a complete takedown of the platform’s infrastructure. A 30-year-old German national suspected of being the site’s administrator has been arrested in Spain. This coordinated effort involved law enforcement agencies from the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, demonstrating the global reach required to combat sophisticated cybercriminal networks.
Incognito Admin Arrest And SuperMarket Wallet Drain: Darknet Marketplaces Plunge Into Uncertainty
- Threat actors generally rely on it for its anonymous nature, which often enables them to run illicit schemes.
- As Pharoah — the leader of Incognito market — Lin supervised all of its operations, including its employees, vendors and customers, and had ultimate decision-making authority over every aspect of the multimillion-dollar operation.
- Archetyp Market quietly emerged on the dark web in May 2020 and quickly became a dominant force in illegal narcotics distribution.
- The operation led to the seizure of cryptocurrency worth over $8.77 million from the arrested individuals.
- Described by Attorney General Pam Bondi as a historic blow to the digital drug trade, the operation targeted individuals in the United States, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
- Nemesis was established in 2021 and operated as a criminal marketplace on the darknet, an encrypted network within the Internet that can only be accessed with special anonymity-enhancing browsers.
The platform also featured prescription drug listings falsely marketed as authentic, and some products were outright scams—counterfeit pills advertised as legitimate pharmaceuticals. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard. Meanwhile, users of Archetyp began noticing the site’s main domains were down last week, causing some to suspect the site was facing trouble. It appears law enforcement then sent a message through the Archetyp administrator’s messaging channel, confirming the takedown. Authorities also moved against one moderator and six of the platform’s top vendors in Germany and Sweden. Investigators seized assets valued at 7.8 million euros, which include both cryptocurrency and physical property.
Cybersecurity Month
The seizure of €7.8 million in assets also implies either access to private keys or direct confiscation of devices. By eliminating Archetyp Market, authorities believe they’ve significantly disrupted the global supply of some of the most dangerous substances, underscoring the growing efficacy of coordinated cyber-policing efforts. This case was investigated as part of an FBI-led interagency Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) operation. J-CODE brings together experts from the DEA, the Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, as well as the Department of Defense and the Customs and Border Protection, along with the FBI. The Justice Department appreciates the cooperation and significant assistance provided by law enforcement partners in the British Virgin Islands, Germany, Lithuania, and Türkiye. “By tracing financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence, and working closely with partners on the ground, authorities were able to deliver a decisive blow to one of the most prolific drug markets on the dark web,” it added.
International Law Enforcement Cooperation
In March of this year, U.S. officials placed sanctions on Parsarad, who reportedly collected a percentage of every sale transacted on Nemesis’s platform. 55,000 of these orders—or 13.75% of the total—were for stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine, while 17,000 (4.25%) were for opioids such as heroin and fentanyl. Nemesis allegedly processed over 400,000 orders between its launch and March 2024, when U.S., German and Lithuanian authorities seized its servers and shut it down. The FBI Cleveland Field Office is investigating the case with assistance from the DEA and IRS-CI in Chicago. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Cybercrime Liaison Prosecutor to Eurojust provided significant assistance. If convicted, Parsarad faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life.
Archetyp Dark Web Market Shut Down By Law Enforcement
Operation RapTOR includes law enforcement actions taken by JCODE member agencies, to include ICE HSI; the DEA; FBI; FDA-OCI; IRS-CI; and USPIS; in addition to foreign partners listed below. Credible reporting from the referenced agencies, in addition to contributions from ATF; Army CID; CBP; Department of Treasury’s FinCEN and Office of Foreign Assets Control; and NCIS enabled domestic law enforcement actions in support of Operation RapTOR. Local, state, and other federal agencies also contributed to investigations through task force participation and regional partnerships.
Partnerships
The Archetyp Market drug marketplace has been targeted by law enforcement in an operation involving takedowns and arrests. On June 27, 2024, Dutch authorities apprehended one of the administrators at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The suspect, whose identity remains undisclosed, was found in possession of electronic devices containing incriminating data and keys to access Bitcoin wallets. Simultaneously, Irish law enforcement arrested the second administrator as part of the same operation. The Justice Department established the FBI-led JCODE team to lead and coordinate government efforts to detect, disrupt, and dismantle major criminal enterprises reliant on the darknet for trafficking opioids and other illicit narcotics, along with identifying and dismantling their supply chains.
