The Empire marketplace on the Dark web has recently closed abruptly, following a major DDoS attack and numerous prosecutions.
Σύμφωνα με τις τελευταίες αναφορές, οι διαχειριστές της σελίδας Empire αγωνίζονταν να διατηρήσουν την "επιχείρησή" τους ανοιχτή, και το πρόσφατο πλήγμα από τις επιθέσεις, δεν τους άφησε άλλη επιλογή από το να αφήσουν μια για πάντα την παράνομη αγορά.
Of course, as always, the sudden disappearance of Empire destroyed the trust of its customers darknet in the so-called systems "escrow» used for these purchases.
Europol: hundreds of arrests in Darknet
The Israeli company monitoringCyber threat intelligence agency 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 like 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 in application ανταλλαγής μηνυμάτων Wickr, ' όπως δήλωσε η Victoria Kivilevich, αναλυτής πληροφοριών της KELA.
Σε ένα άλλο forum που εξέτασε η KELA, ένας 'πρώην προμηθευτής του Empire', ο Arbeitsamt δήλωσε ότι έχασε 5.000 ευρώ με το απότομο κλείσιμό τους.
'Έχασα την κύρια πηγή του εισοδήματός μου. Η Empire είχε τόσο πολλή κίνηση', δήλωσε ο πωλητής, ανακοινώνοντας τα σχέδια του για ενδεχόμενη ένταξη στο 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.
The Empire Market was one of the largest and most popular illegal places in the dark web that engaged in illegal purchases of drugs, chemicals, jewelry, and credit card numbers using Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Monero (XMR).
