The Empire marketplace on the Dark web was recently shut down abruptly, after a major DDoS attack and several prosecutions.
According to the latest reports, the administrators of the Empire page have been struggling to keep their "business" open, and the recent blow from the attacks has left them no choice choice from leaving the illegal market once and for all.
Of course, as always, the sudden disappearance of the Empire destroyed the trust of darknet customers in the so-called "escrow" systems used for these markets.
Europol: hundreds of arrests in Darknet
The Israeli company cyber threat intelligence tracker KELA has released some information on the matter, as well as some screenshots. The company analyzed darknet forums and managed to gather information about the next steps of customers and sellers who were left without a purchase.
After analyzing many posts on forums such as Dread and TheHub, where darknet users communicate freely, there seems to be a consensus that most will start moving their activities and communications to the three popular dark sites: Versus, White House Market and Icarus, as well as the Wickr messaging app, 'said Victoria Kivilevich, KELA's information analyst.
In another forum reviewed by KELA, a 'former Empire supplier', the Arbeitsamt said it lost €5.000 with their sudden closure.
I lost my main source of income. Empire had so much movement' said the seller, announcing his plans to eventually join Monopoly.
Shopping free of charge
Many of the darknet marketplaces report that they offer some of their services for free, to attract people after the closure of Empire, such as Icarus
However, these alternatives offer no guarantee that the same will not happen to them as it did to Empire.
The post reassures potential customers that the seller had no intention of cheating anyone or disappearing with their money and that they themselves have been severely affected by the Empire scam.
But most importantly, the seller shares details about his reappearance in Wickr and the White House Market.
Empire Market was one of the largest and most popular illegal places on the dark web that engaged in illegal purchases of drugs, chemicals, jewelry and credit card numbers using Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Monero (XMR).
