German authorities have announced the takedown of an illicit underground marketplace called Nemesis Market that peddled narcotics, stolen data, and various cybercrime services.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (aka Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) said it seized the digital infrastructure associated with the darknet service located in Germany and Lithuania and confiscated €94,000 ($102,107) in cryptocurrency assets.
The operation, conducted in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Germany, Lithuania, and the U.S., took place on March 20, 2024, following an extensive investigation that commenced in October 2022.
Founded in 2021, Nemesis Market is estimated to have had more than 150,000 user accounts and 1,100 seller accounts from all over the world prior to its shutdown. Almost 20$ of the seller accounts were from Germany.
“The range of goods available on the marketplace included narcotics, fraudulently obtained data and goods, as well as a selection of cybercrime services such as ransomware, phishing, or DDoS attacks,” the BKA said.
The agency said further investigations against criminal sellers and users of the platform are presently ongoing. That said, no arrests have been made.
The development comes a month after another coordinated law enforcement operation took down the LockBit ransomware group, taking control of the outfit’s servers and arresting three affiliates from Poland and Ukraine. The disruption prompted the gang to relaunch its cyber extortion operation.
In recent months, German authorities have also taken down Kingdom Market and Crimemarket, both of which boasted of thousands of users and offered a wide array of money laundering and cybercrime services.