Law enforcement agencies around the world have carried out one of the largest crackdowns on a cybercrime operation hosted on the dark web to date. A single individual operated hundreds of different onion websites and is now wanted on an international arrest warrant. 
Several hundred of his “clients” could also face prosecution in the coming months.
Europol recently revealed “Operation Alice,” a major effort to dismantle a large network of malicious websites hidden on the dark web. The investigation began in 2021 and initially focused on a platform called Alice with Violence CP. Ultimately, the operation took down one of the largest dark web platforms involved in malicious and criminal activities.
Operation Alice was first launched by German authorities, who discovered that a single individual was operating more than 373.000 onion websites. Onion URLs are part of the Tor dark web, accessible through the Tor browser and other compatible software clients. The cybercriminal, a 35-year-old from China, allegedly tricked customers into purchasing various “packages” of child sexual abuse material over a period of at least five years.
Researchers later discovered that he was also trying to sell cybercrime-as-a-service (CaaS) products, such as stolen credit card data and access to unsecured or compromised systems. The criminal advertised his services on more than 90.000 onion domains, which ultimately earned him about €345.000 in profits from about 10.000 customers worldwide.
However, no customer received what they paid for. Neither the CSAM (child sexual abuse material) packages – priced between 17 and 215 euros – nor the CaaS services were real. Europol said the fraudster operated 287 servers, 105 of which were located in Germany alone. German authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the Chinese suspect.
Earlier this month, Europol coordinated an international coalition of 23 countries to fully dismantle the network. Investigators identified 440 customers attempting to purchase “CSAM products,” or CaaS, with ongoing investigations targeting more than 100 additional individuals.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
