Freshtools was established in 2019 and offers various stolen credentials, accounts, and host protocols like RDP. It is considered a go-to site for malware purchasing, providing keyloggers, trojans, and other Malware as a Service products. Established in 2022, Torzon market is one of the biggest and most diverse marketplaces on the dark web.
On the demand side, anything that signals depreciation – for example, a deteriorating balance of payments – increases the demand for foreign currency. On the supply side, anything that affects the willingness of exporters, tourists and expatriates to divert FX from official to illegal channels is likely to affect the premium. When the controls are strict, the stock of foreign assets is essentially fixed, such that any increase in demand will result in a steep rise in the premium. In May, InSight Crime found that a liter of gasoline sold legally in Colombia for $0.53 could fetch $1.50 a liter on the black market in Táchira, Venezuela.
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Meanwhile, there are other “specific licenses” for oil and gas companies at risk. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had created a system to monitor at least part of Venezuela’s oil industry by waiving sanctions for certain American, European, and Indian companies but with strict limitations. Torzon Market has established itself as a significant player in the darknet ecosystem, offering a secure, user-centric platform for anonymous trading.
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In Mexico, a truck carrying 200 kilograms of hand sanitizer was stolen but recovered through satellite tracking. Far more seriously, 20 ventilators were stolen from a hospital in the southern state of Oaxaca. And in Honduras, hundreds of N-95 masks intended for public hospitals went missing. With countries and governments desperately outbidding each other to secure needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies to fight COVID-19, gangs moved in to secure their own supply.
Cracking Down On Black Market Benjamins
Platforms like SecureDrop enable individuals to submit documents and communicate securely with journalists, thereby exposing corruption and wrongdoings while preserving their anonymity. The significance is in safeguarding the right to free speech and the role of the press as watchdogs. Businesses should be aware of the potential for data leaks and invest in data loss prevention measures. AI-powered legal analytics, workflow tools and premium legal & business news. While this practice keeps basic consumer goods at reasonable price, their scarcity makes for a whole different outcome in practice.
A source with intimate knowledge of the bank’s operations in Venezuela during the early 2000s told OCCRP that such clients didn’t represent a problem for Credit Suisse. In fact, the source said, the lender actively pursued customers either known or suspected of being testaferros. Amid the vast fortunes made by some, this frenzied period was marked by human rights violations and endemic corruption in Venezuela’s self-described socialist government. The Suisse Secrets leak lays bare the extent of the relationship between Credit Suisse and the politically-connected Venezuelan financial sector. Nothing contained on the Web site shall be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell a security to any person in any jurisdiction.
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The Venezuelan government isn’t solely targeting individuals involved in the black market; it has also gone after organizations such as the OVF, which provides critical economic data. Recent reports indicate that annual inflation surged from 51% in October to a staggering 229% in May. On June 2, 2025, Venezuela’s Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, announced the arrest of 25 people allegedly involved in manipulating the parallel dollar exchange rate. The Venezuelan government has arrested 25 individuals for operating unauthorized websites that manipulated the parallel dollar, intensifying efforts to protect the bolívar and combat economic sabotage. Learn how this crackdown aims to restore stability amid ongoing currency wars.
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Banchs said the economic policies of President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government have hampered the growth of the business sector, and corruption and a plunge in the price of oil have increased the burden on the country’s economy. Furthermore, funds for various acts of politically motivated violence was distributed through AirTM, one of the 18 platforms promoting the black market dollar. In fact, last Wednesday, Minister Cabello showed evidence of a transfer of $9,531.97 made to far-right operator Juan Pablo Guanipa, who is currently detained. Cabello stated that part of the funds came from drug trafficking and the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The authorities presume that the administrators of those 18 entities also have connections with the far right, as reflected the week before the May 25 elections when they increased the parallel dollar rate by 20%. Given the explosive growth of these markets, organizations must prioritize proactive threat monitoring.
- Venezuela’s oil industry is beginning to make a muted recovery and the country’s black markets are reacting fast, with domestic fuel already starting to compete with smuggled Colombian imports.
- “Families are struggling to buy basics like food and medicine, as livelihoods are destroyed.
- Despite growing crackdowns from law enforcement agencies, the dark web remains a hotbed of criminal activity, offering everything from drugs to stolen data.
- Following a series of mini-devaluations, the official exchange rate has climbed to 104.5 bolívars to the dollar, a stark contrast to the black market rate of 115.4 bolívars.
- In this case, it refers to the “blackout” of various parallel exchanges of the US currency as a result of police actions carried out by the Venezuelan government in recent days.
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- Other countries have reported death tolls in the dozens, or even hundreds, such as the Dominican Republic, Peru and Costa Rica.
- But another consequence of the coronavirus kept contraband networks active as well this year.
- These systems can analyze vast amounts of data from satellite imagery, shipping databases, and financial transactions to detect and flag suspicious activity.
- A best-selling anti-parasitic drug, Ivermectin, was also briefly touted as a possible cure.
- Credit Suisse employee Francisco “Pancho” Illarramendi led a team at the bank to develop currency trading mechanisms that would later become instrumental to the permuta market.
Two of the subjects of Carney’s investigation were found in the leaked Credit Suisse data. Credit Suisse did not respond to questions on Illarramendi or its role in issuing credit-linked notes. Then, in 2010, the government seized ABA and later charged its executives with fraud.
Brazilian gasoline could bring in even higher margins, with reports stating that smuggled Brazilian fuel was selling as high as $4 to $6 a liter in Bolívar state and was primarily used to run machinery needed for illegal gold mining. Classic darknet markets sell diverse illegal goods; data stores focus on leaked or stolen data like credentials, databases, and ID records. The Chavista of Nicolás Maduro deployed prosecutors nationwide to ensure businesses use the official Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) exchange rate, aiming to curb speculation and protect consumer rights. The National Superintendence for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights (Sundde) was entrusted with this mission during the weekend to make sure traders operated under the official exchange rate established by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV). The proliferation of parallel dollar indicators,especially on social media and digital platforms,has been identified as a central driver of inflation and price speculation. By artificially inflating the dollar, these networks undermine the government’s efforts to stabilize the economy and protect the purchasing power of ordinary Venezuelans.
On the supply side, inflation has made it impossible for the government to maintain fixed prices. Venezuela has witnessed numerous reversals of the flow of contraband oil from within and outside its own borders. According to the most recent monthly report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the world’s most oil-rich nation closed the year churning out 871,000 barrels per day. Since 2020, 2easy has sold massive stealer logs with sensitive data like passwords, bank cards, and initial access credentials.
Venezuelans involved in the permuta market held fortunes at the lender worth at least 500 million Swiss francs, according to leaked banking data analyzed by journalists as part of the Suisse Secrets project. Credit Suisse employee Francisco “Pancho” Illarramendi led a team at the bank to develop currency trading mechanisms that would later become instrumental to the permuta market. Years later, after he left the bank to set up his own hedge fund, Illarramendi would be convicted of running a massive fraud using that very market. But Credit Suisse’s involvement in Venezuela’s economic meltdown went even further than servicing corrupt elites. Back in the 1990s, one of the bank’s employees played a key role in creating the foundation for a system that, while technically legal, would be undermined by corruption. In Venezuela, many will remember waiting with anxiety for the arrival of Iranian tankers, also targeted by sanctions themselves, which would be essential to produce car fuel.
The Mexico Chamber of Commerce estimated that contraband would cost the economy $5 billion in 2020. In Peru, seizures of contraband goods rose from 4.2 million items from January to August 2019 to 18 million items for the same period in 2020. In Honduras, an association of private business owners stated contraband was getting so bad it was hindering the country’s economic development. As the year progressed, some more proven options to treat COVID-19 emerged, such as Remdesivir. By September, Remdesivir could be bought illegally in Venezuela, with a Colombian doctor selling it for $800 a vial after reportedly stealing it from a local hospital.
“There is a market for these medicines, because if somebody with economic resources has a sick child, they will do whatever it takes to find the medicine,” he told InSight Crime. Virtually every Latin American country saw meat and produce being smuggled, an unsurprising fact in a region with 47 million people still vulnerable to hunger and where an estimated 11.6 percent of all food is wasted. But it highlighted how calamity had brought with it large and small opportunities. Many vessels operating within the dark fleet are significantly older, raising concerns about structural integrity and the risk of accidents.
