Security News > 2022 > April > Germany Shuts Down Russian Hydra Darknet Market; Seizes $25 Million in Bitcoin

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt, on Tuesday announced the official takedown of Hydra, the world's largest illegal dark web marketplace.

" Bitcoins amounting to currently the equivalent of approximately €23 million were seized, which are attributed to the marketplace," the BKA said in a press release.

The agency attributed the shutdown of Hydra to an extensive investigation operation conducted by its Central Office for Combating Cybercrime in partnership with U.S. law enforcement authorities since August 2021.

Launched in 2015, Hydra is a Russian-language dark web marketplace that opened as a competitor to the now-defunct Russian Anonymous Marketplace, primarily focusing on the sales of illegal narcotics before expanding their focus to peddle forged documents and stolen credit cards.

Roughly 17 million customer and over 19,000 seller accounts are said to have been registered on the marketplace, the BKA said.

The demise of Hydra follows a wave of recent law enforcement actions against criminal marketplaces since the start of the year, including that of UniCC, Canadian HeadQuarters, and four Russian carding shops Ferum Shop, Sky-Fraud, Trump's Dumps, and UAS that specialized in the sales of stolen credit cards.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/germany-shuts-down-russian-hydra.html