The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany (BKA) and the internet-crime combating unit of Frankfurt (ZIT) have dismantled a dark web marketplace called “Kingdom Market” that sold a wide range of illicit goods, including drugs, fake IDs and malware.
According to the BKA, the platform’s server infrastructure was seized across several countries. The operation was conducted in cooperation with law enforcement authorities from the US, Switzerland, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
One of the platform’s administrators was reportedly arrested in the US.
Kingdom Market was an English-language dark web market accessible via the Tor network and the Invisible Internet Project (I2P) since at least March 2021. The customers paid for the goods in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero and Zcash. The operators of illegal goods received a 3% commission.
Earlier this week, the US authorities announced the disruption campaign against the prolific Russian-speaking ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group that compromised more than 1,000 victims worldwide, receiving more than $300 million in ransom payments.
