Germany has taken down the biggest on-line cybercrime market within the nation, named “Crimenetwork,” and arrested its administrator for facilitating the sale of medication, stolen knowledge, and unlawful companies.
The regulation enforcement motion was carried out on Monday by the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace in Frankfurt am Principal, the Central Workplace for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT), and the Federal Legal Police Workplace (BKA).
Crimenetwork was the biggest German-language market the place criminals posted stolen knowledge and medicines on the market and supplied companies akin to doc forging.
Established in 2012, the location had over 100 registered sellers and 100,000 customers when it was shut down, most of which had been primarily based in German-speaking international locations.
“The platform, considered the largest German-speaking online marketplace for the underground economy, had been active for many years,” reads BKA’s announcement.
“As part of the investigation, the servers that constituted the platform’s technical infrastructure were taken offline.”
Customers of Crimenetwork may pay for items and companies utilizing Bitcoin or the hard-to-trace cryptocurrency Monero (XMR).
BKA says that, between 2018 and 2024, transactions on the platform amounted to 1,000 Bitcoin and over 20,000 Monero, at present valued at roughly 93,000,000 Euros ($98,000,000).
Crimenetwork earned a 5% minimize from these transactions, plus a month-to-month subscription charge from sellers and promoting income. Which means the market’s operators made no less than $5,000,000 since 2018.
The arrested administrator is a 29-year-old suspect identified on-line as “Techmin,” who’s believed to have served as a technical professional for Crimenetwork for a number of years.
He now faces expenses associated to Part 127 of the German Legal Code associated to the operation of prison on-line marketplaces and likewise offenses beneath Sections 29a and 30a of the Narcotics Act.
BKA additionally stated that it has secured details about registered members of the cybercrime platform, so extra arrests may comply with sooner or later.
“As part of the operation, extensive user and transaction data were secured, providing valuable leads for further unraveling the criminal structures behind the platform,” warned the BKA.
The shutdown of Crimenetwork follows shortly after different notable anti-cybercrime operations in Germany, just like the seizure of the Dstat.cc DDoS overview platform on November 1, 2024.
That motion, which was a part of “Operation PowerOFF,” additionally concerned two arrests, together with an individual believed to be the supervisor of the location.
In mid-September, German regulation enforcement seized 47 cryptocurrency change companies hosted within the nation, facilitating unlawful cash laundering actions for cybercriminals, together with ransomware gangs.
