TradeRoute Went Down Following a Major Security Leak
The massive DDoS attack that rendered many of the darknet markets inaccessible also provided ample cover for a market to exit scam. Although Wall Street Market, Dream, RsClub, and T•chka Free Market may return (to stability), TradeRoute will not be making a reappearance. DeepDotWeb, prior to the moment a TradeRoute staff member confirmed the market had exit scammed, spoke with "Phishkingz," the creator of numerous darknet market phishing sites. Phishkingz confirmed that TradeRoute had left the scene for good.
Note that DeepDotWeb logged in to Phishkingz's account and verified the legitimacy of the screenshots provided by Phishkingz. Following several months of what amounted to a form of extortion by Phishkingz that ended in weekly Bitcoin payments, the payments stopped flowing as the DDoS attacks knocked the market offline. Phishkingz grew concerned with how the market admins would get their payment to him without any market access. He then messaged TradeRoute Dispute and Support Admin "SamCulperTR" on Reddit. He asked for his money.
Phishkingz told Sam Culper that he suspected the other market admins had exit scammed. "No shit… And they barely paid you shit," Culper said. "You are the reason they took off."
Sheep Marketplace Owner Gets Nine Years in Prison
Years ago, Reddit users identified the owner of Sheep Market, another darknet marketplace that exit scammed. Tomáš Jiříkovský owned and operated the site. He also exit scammed and attempted to buy a house with the money. Police in the Czech Republic heard of Jiříkovský's activities, but had ignored the information until the attempted house purchase.
The unexplained income had flagged his fiance's accounts. An expert witness reported that the man's phone had a configuration file for Sheep Marketplace stored on it. The seized computer contained similarly incriminating pieces of evidence. Marek Vagai, a former prosecutor, explained that the two men in the Florida case took off with $4,575,115 in bitcoin. Jiříkovsky only grabbed $731,600. For theft, drug distribution, and illegal weapon possession, a Czech Republic court sentenced the man to nine years in prison.
Hacker Advertises India National Internet Registry Database
Seqrite's Cyber Intelligence Labs and seQtree InfoServices found a hacker selling access to India's Internet registry database. A hacker advertised a database advertisement on a darknet forum that allegedly belonged to one of the world's "biggest Internet Protocol controllers." The cyber security firm checked out the listing and obtained sample information from the hacker. Eventually, with enough sample information, the teams found the source of the database: IRINN aka Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers.
The hacker listed the database (or access to it) for 15 BTC. In terms of sheer potential damage, the price may have been fair. According to the cyber security firms, the database contained 6,000 emails that belonged to the Defense Research and Development Organisation, Idea Telecom, MasterCard, Visa, and even the State Bank of India. Those are far from the complete list of government organizations and companies that could have been affected by the breach.
Teenage Submachine Gun Buyer Hit with a Terrorism Charge
Months ago, DeepDotWeb wrote about a teenager who had skipped school to buy a submachine gun. He, according to the arresting officer, had arranged the deal on the darknet. The arresting officer also investigated the 14-year-old suspect and happened to have the very SMG he had been searching the darknet for. She arranged the deal and, out of the goodness of her heart, threw in some ammunition for a low price. Naturally, though, she needed to meet him in person. He met her and she arrested him for buying the weapon and ammunition.
Several court appearances later, after he had just gotten his house arrest conditions slightly less constricting, the authorities hit him with another charge. They had discovered a titled "Eth.txt" on the suspect's computer. The document detailed the process required in erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) production. Erythritol tetranitrate has few uses that outweigh the similarity to PETN, a powerful military explosive. So the court gave him a terrorism charge.
US Collects $48m on 114,336 Bitcoins from Ross Ulbricht
The United States and Ross Ulbricht came to an agreement regarding the sale of the 14,336 Silk Road bitcoins. The US Marshals sold the BTC during a period where a single bitcoin ranged between $300 and $1,000. At today's price, the government could have made $651,792,948 by selling Ulbricht's Bitcoin. They instead made only $48 million. The US Marshals held two auctions for the "seized" bitcoin where they took bids from select bidders. Collectively, "winners" of those auctions ended up wiring the government sums of US dollars in exchange for a collective total of 14,336 bitcoins. Somebody came out ahead and that someone was not Carl Force or Shaun Bridges.
