Operation Bayonet: The Month Police Secretly Ran Hansa Market
Dutch police seized Hansa Market in June 2017 and quietly ran it for weeks, harvesting user data as AlphaBay refugees walked straight into the trap.
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newest firstAnatomy of the AlphaBay Takedown: How a Hotmail Address Unmasked the Dark Web's Biggest Kingpin
AlphaBay fell in July 2017 not to a flaw in Tor but to human error: a personal Hotmail in welcome emails, a LinkedIn profile, and a dropped VPN session.
The Hydra Collapse: How One Raid Broke the Russian Dark Web
German police seized Hydra Market in April 2022, confiscating roughly $25 million in bitcoin. The raid shattered the Russian-language dark web into a long, messy war for its throne.
How small opsec mistakes unmasked the Wall Street Market admins
A failing VPN, correlated login times and a recycled PGP key identified the Wall Street Market admins, while their exit scam collapsed into user extortion.
Empire Market's $30 Million Vanishing Act: The DDoS Cover Story, Decoded
The biggest English-language darknet market vanished in August 2020 behind a DDoS cover story. Roughly $30 million went with it, and the signs were visible for days.
The Evolution Exit Scam: How $12 Million Vanished and Wrote the Playbook
In March 2015 Evolution's admins vanished with about $12 million in escrowed bitcoin. The collapse became the template every exit scam since has copied.
Silk Road, Thirteen Years Later: What the 2013 Takedown Still Teaches
Thirteen years after FBI agents grabbed Ross Ulbricht in a library, the Silk Road case remains the sharpest lesson in operational security, chain analysis and legend building.
Operation Cookie Monster: How the FBI Dismantled Genesis Market
Genesis Market sold stolen digital identities as ready-to-use bots. Operation Cookie Monster seized it in April 2023, arresting users across 17 countries within days.
Operation Dark HunTor: how 150 dark web drug sellers were unmasked in a single sweep
Operation Dark HunTor arrested 150 vendors and buyers across nine countries, seizing $31 million. Postal parcels, undercover buys and seized market data did the real work.
Arrested at the Keyboard: How Koblenz Killed DarkMarket
German investigators ended the largest dark web market with seized bunker data, months of surveillance and an arrest at the keyboard: inside the DarkMarket takedown.
Incognito Market's extortion exit: how the FBI caught Pharoah after the leak threats
Incognito Market's shutdown became a rare extortion exit: buyers and vendors were told to pay or see their order data leaked. Here is how the FBI unmasked Pharoah.
BidenCash seized: how the card shop that gave away millions of stolen cards finally fell
US and Dutch authorities seized 145 BidenCash domains and its crypto wallets, ending the card shop famous for giving away millions of stolen cards.