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German authorities have brought down a major cyber crime market this month, leading to the website going down and money being confiscated.
Launched in 2021, Nemesis Market is a darknet marketplace based in Lithuania and Germany, on which users buy and sell cyber crime services such as ransomware and DDoS attacks, stolen data such as financial information, and drugs.
The market largely adopts a no-holds-barred policy when it comes to what is bought and sold, with the only strict rules prohibiting the sale of child abuse and child pornography, weapons, Fentanyl-based drugs, and hitmen and other contract-killing services.
On 20 March 2024, the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany (BKA) and the Frankfurt cyber crime combating unit (ZIT) launched an attack on Nemesis Market, seizing its website and preventing its peak 150,000 user base and 1,100 sellers from accessing it.
Those attempting to access the website are greeted with a seizure banner notifying users of the takedown.
“THIS PLATFORM HAS BEEN SEIZED,” the banner reads “...by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Frankfurt am Main in the course of an international coordinated law enforcement operation.”
Additionally, the law enforcement agencies confiscated approximately US$100,000 in cash.
According to the BKA, the seized data will be used in other investigations in tracking down cyber criminals.
“The seized marketplace data forms the basis for further investigations against criminal sellers and users of the platform,” said the BKA in a press release.
“The shutdown and prosecution are a further blow to underground economy actors operating on the dark web and demonstrate the effectiveness of international law enforcement in the digital space.”
The BKA did not say if any arrests were made in the takedown of the marketplace, but the securing of cash suggests physical action was conducted and that there was likely interaction with admins or others with connections to the marketplace.
Law enforcement agencies worldwide have been busy dismantling threat groups and online forums and marketplaces in recent months, with both the LockBit and ALPHV ransomware gangs suffering from global takedowns.
Nemesis Market is also the second marketplace the BKA has taken down in recent months, with the agency, late last year, disrupting the infamous Kingdom Market.
“We proudly announce that the kingdom has fallen!
“Thank you for your cooperation.
“To be continued…”
At least one admin for the marketplace has been arrested in the US. Alan Bill, a Slovakian man who went by “Vend0r” or “KingdomOfficial”, was arrested on 15 December 2023, according to court documents.
The BKA then continued with investigations to track down the market’s leaders.
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