(ANSA) – MILAN, APRIL 06 – Germany has closed the servers for the Russian dark web market Hydra. After the sanction by the United States, the authorities interrupted the infrastructure of the servers, located on German territory, which kept the platform running, seizing 23 million euros in bitcoin. This was announced by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bka). Hydra is a large marketplace on the dark web that serves as a purchasing hub for drugs, weapons, stolen credit cards, counterfeit banknotes, fake IDs, and other illegal goods or services. The market mainly targets users in Russia and surrounding countries. The so-called “Treasuremen”, or drug dealers linked to the site, sell drugs by hiding them in withdrawal places whose details are kept secret until the time of the sending of the money, in cryptocurrency, by the buyers. With the closure of the server located in Germany, the authorities have sent an investigation into the Hydra administrators who, according to the Bleeping Computer website, may also have to answer for the money laundering charge. The Bundeskriminalamt says it has worked together with the United States to track down black market organizers since last August.
According to what was reported by The Verge, which heard a spokesman for the German office, at the moment no arrests have been made related to the operation. With around 17 million registered users and 19,000 sellers, Bka and Zti, the German central office for the fight against cybercrime, emphasize that Hydra is the custodian of the highest turnover rate of any illegal market on the web. The site is estimated to have grossed around € 1.23 billion in 2020 alone. German authorities point out that transactions on Hydra are particularly difficult to track due to a cryptocurrency concealment service, called Bitcoin Bank Mixer.
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Source: Ansa
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