One of the administrators of the now-defunct DeepDotWeb (DDW) portal has admitted to dark web money laundering allegations concerning the receipt of kickbacks for providing linkages between the buyers and sellers of illicit goods and services online.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intimated that Tal Prihar, the 37-year-old Israeli living in Brazil, pleaded guilty on charges of running DDW alongside another administrator from the year 2013.
Looking back, the platform was closed down by law enforcement in the year 2019 after the authorities noted DDW’s role in fueling illicit dark web activities. The DOJ claimed that Prihar and Phan, his co-owner, made more than $8 million in revenue collected as kickback for supplying direct links to darknet marketplaces.
According to a 2019 press release by the DOJ, the DDW duo capitalized on the fact that would-be darknet users needed a direct link to various markets in the hidden web. This aspect is pegged on the reality that dark web marketplaces are hosted on the Tor network – a facilitator of anonymous communication.
Thanks to Tor’s structure and standards of operation, a person looking to visit a dark web market must be privy to information concerning the website’s precise .onion address. DDW stepped in to fill this gap by providing a simplified process where interested parties would be exposed to the pages of hyperlinks leading to the hidden markets.
The authorities noted that DDW visitors would click on the hyperlinks shared on the web portal to navigate directly to functional dark web markets and conduct business. It turns out that the web links were loaded with unique account identifiers that allowed the DDW owners to earn from user access to darknet markets.
The Illicit Kickback Scheme
The unique account identifiers made it possible for individual dark web marketplaces to pay referral bonuses to DDW. The kickbacks were remitted in the form of cryptocurrency, and represented a percentage of profits made by all user activities conducted using DDW’s referral links.
According to an analysis that was done by investigators concerning DDW’s role in fueling dark web crime, the web portal’s referral links were popularly employed by users in Pennsylvania and beyond.
The users succeeded to gain access to a large number of dark web marketplaces, including AlphaBay Market, Agora, Dream Market, Valhalla Market, Hansa Market and Tochka Market. At the point when AlphaBay was being shut down by law enforcement in 2017, the market had grown to become one of the largest hidden markets in existence – it offered all things from drugs, cyber materials, fake goods, hacking services, weapons, and hazardous chemicals.
Investigators learnt that about 23.6 percent of all transactions that took place on the now-defunct AlphaBay Market were linked to an account that was opened through a DDW referral link – it goes to show just how much money was made by DDW owners with every order that was made via the referral link.
Prihar has since been compelled by the courts to forfeit an excess of $8,414,173 that was allegedly obtained through illegal channels.
In conclusion, the case reflects on past law enforcement successes in the attempt to destroy underground criminal networks operating under the hidden web.
Sometime in late 2020, U.S. authorities collaborated with Europol and other international law enforcement agencies to execute one of the most ambitious anti-darknet operations to date. The coordinated exercise, dubbed DisrupTor, led to the systematic shutdown of notable dark web platforms, and the arrest of 179 persons linked to illicit online activities.
Consequently, more than $6.5 million and about half a tonne of banned substances were seized – including deadly fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and the party drug ecstasy.
One of the administrators of the now-defunct DeepDotWeb (DDW) portal has admitted to dark web money laundering allegations concerning the receipt of kickbacks for providing linkages between the buyers and sellers of illicit goods and services online.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intimated that Tal Prihar, the 37-year-old Israeli living in Brazil, pleaded guilty on charges of running DDW alongside another administrator from the year 2013.
Looking back, the platform was closed down by law enforcement in the year 2019 after the authorities noted DDW’s role in fueling illicit dark web activities. The DOJ claimed that Prihar and Phan, his co-owner, made more than $8 million in revenue collected as kickback for supplying direct links to darknet marketplaces.
According to a 2019 press release by the DOJ, the DDW duo capitalized on the fact that would-be darknet users needed a direct link to various markets in the hidden web. This aspect is pegged on the reality that dark web marketplaces are hosted on the Tor network – a facilitator of anonymous communication.
Thanks to Tor’s structure and standards of operation, a person looking to visit a dark web market must be privy to information concerning the website’s precise .onion address. DDW stepped in to fill this gap by providing a simplified process where interested parties would be exposed to the pages of hyperlinks leading to the hidden markets.
The authorities noted that DDW visitors would click on the hyperlinks shared on the web portal to navigate directly to functional dark web markets and conduct business. It turns out that the web links were loaded with unique account identifiers that allowed the DDW owners to earn from user access to darknet markets.
The Illicit Kickback Scheme
The unique account identifiers made it possible for individual dark web marketplaces to pay referral bonuses to DDW. The kickbacks were remitted in the form of cryptocurrency, and represented a percentage of profits made by all user activities conducted using DDW’s referral links.
According to an analysis that was done by investigators concerning DDW’s role in fueling dark web crime, the web portal’s referral links were popularly employed by users in Pennsylvania and beyond.
The users succeeded to gain access to a large number of dark web marketplaces, including AlphaBay Market, Agora, Dream Market, Valhalla Market, Hansa Market and Tochka Market. At the point when AlphaBay was being shut down by law enforcement in 2017, the market had grown to become one of the largest hidden markets in existence – it offered all things from drugs, cyber materials, fake goods, hacking services, weapons, and hazardous chemicals.
Investigators learnt that about 23.6 percent of all transactions that took place on the now-defunct AlphaBay Market were linked to an account that was opened through a DDW referral link – it goes to show just how much money was made by DDW owners with every order that was made via the referral link.
Prihar has since been compelled by the courts to forfeit an excess of $8,414,173 that was allegedly obtained through illegal channels.
In conclusion, the case reflects on past law enforcement successes in the attempt to destroy underground criminal networks operating under the hidden web.
Sometime in late 2020, U.S. authorities collaborated with Europol and other international law enforcement agencies to execute one of the most ambitious anti-darknet operations to date. The coordinated exercise, dubbed DisrupTor, led to the systematic shutdown of notable dark web platforms, and the arrest of 179 persons linked to illicit online activities.
Consequently, more than $6.5 million and about half a tonne of banned substances were seized – including deadly fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and the party drug ecstasy.
