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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    International probe leads to the arrest of the alleged operator of “Silk Road 2.0”

    I.C.E. News Release

    TOP STORY

    CONTRABAND


    11/06/2014


    International probe leads to the arrest of the alleged operator of “Silk Road 2.0”




    NEW YORK – Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI arrested the administrator of a black market website designed to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods over the Internet. The arrest is the result of an international investigation by HSI, FBI and the European Police (EUROPOL).

    Blake Benthall, 26, aka “Defcon” was arrested Thursday in San Francisco, California in connection with his operation and ownership of the Silk Road 2.0 website, a hidden website designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement. He will have an initial hearing Thursday in federal court in San Francisco.


    “Blake Benthall’s arrest ends his status as the alleged administrator of a website that allows illicit black-market activities to evolve and expand, and provides a safe haven for illegal vices,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Peter Edge. “HSI will continue to work in partnership with its federal and international law enforcement partners around the world to hold criminals who use anonymous internet software for illegal activities accountable for their actions.”


    "As alleged, Blake Benthall attempted to resurrect Silk Road, a secret website that law enforcement seized last year, by running Silk Road 2.0, a nearly identical criminal enterprise. Let’s be clear – this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison,” said Preet Bharar, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. “Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don’t get tired.”


    “It’s been more than a year since the FBI made an arrest of the administrator of the black-market bazaar, Silk Road, and here we stand again, announcing the arrest of the creator and operator of Silk Road 2.0. Following a very close business model to the first, as alleged, Blake Benthall ran a website on the Tor network facilitating supposedly anonymous deals of drugs and illegal services generating millions of dollars in monthly sales. Benthall should have known that those who hide behind the keyboard will ultimately be found,” said George Venizelos, assistant director in charge of the FBI New York. “The FBI worked with law enforcement partners here and abroad on this case and will continue to investigate and bring to prosecution those who seek to run similar black markets online.”


    “Today we have demonstrated that, together, we are able to efficiently remove vital criminal infrastructures that are supporting serious organized crime. And we are not 'just' removing these services from the open Internet; this time we have also hit services on the Darknet using Tor where, for a long time, criminals have considered themselves untouchable. We can now show that they are neither invisible nor untouchable, said Troels Oerting, director of EUROPOL’s European cybercrime center (EC3). “The results of today’s law enforcement action will of course not last forever. The Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce was created to serve as a platform for targeted operations against global criminal networks and infrastructure, carried out by EC3 and our colleagues in EU member states and beyond. The criminals can run but they can’t hide. And our work continues.”


    According to the complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:


    Since about December 2013, Benthall has secretly owned and operated an underground website known as “Silk Road 2.0” – one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and widely used criminal marketplaces on the Internet today. The website has operated on the Tor network, a special network of computers on the Internet, distributed around the world, designed to conceal the true IP addresses of the computers on the network and thereby the identities of the network’s users. Since its launch in November 2013, Silk Road 2.0 has been used by thousands of drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to buyers throughout the world, as well as to launder millions of dollars generated by these unlawful transactions. As of September 2014, Silk Road 2.0 was generating sales of at least approximately $8 million per month.


    Silk Road 2.0 was created in the wake of the government’s October 2013 seizure of the website known as “Silk Road” and the arrest of its alleged owner and operator, Ross William Ulbricht aka “Dread Pirate Roberts.” The original Silk Road website had been designed to enable people anywhere in the world to buy and sell illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement. Before its seizure in October 2013, Silk Road was used extensively to facilitate such transactions.


    In November 2013, approximately five weeks after the government shut down Silk Road and arrested Ulbricht, Silk Road 2.0 was launched. Designed to fill the void left by the government’s seizure of Silk Road, Silk Road 2.0 was virtually identical to the original Silk Road website in the way it appeared and functioned. In particular, like its predecessor, Silk Road 2.0 operated exclusively on the Tor network and required all transactions to be paid for in Bitcoins in order to preserve its users’ anonymity and evade detection by law enforcement.


    The offerings on Silk Road 2.0 consisted overwhelmingly of illegal drugs, which were openly advertised as such on the site. As of Oct. 17, 2014, Silk Road 2.0 had over 13,000 listings for controlled substances, including, among others, approximately 1,783 listings for “Psychedelics,” approximately 1,697 listings for “Ecstasy,” approximately 1,707 listings for “Cannabis,” and approximately 379 listings for “Opioids.” Besides illegal narcotics, other illicit goods and services were openly advertised for sale on Silk Road 2.0 as well, including fraudulent identification documents and computer-hacking tools and services.


    When Silk Road 2.0 was launched, it was controlled for a short time by a co-conspirator using the same online moniker as that allegedly used by Ross Ulbricht in operating the original Silk Road website – “Dread Pirate Roberts.” In late December 2013, however, Benthall, using the moniker “Defcon,” took over administration of the site and has owned and operated it continuously since that time. In that role, Benthall has controlled and overseen all aspects of Silk Road 2.0, including, among other things: the computer infrastructure and programming code underlying the website; the terms of service and commission rates imposed on vendors and customers of the website; the small staff of online administrators and forum moderators who have assisted with the day-to-day operation of the website; and the massive profits generated from the operation of the illegal business.


    During the government’s investigation, which was conducted jointly by HSI and the FBI, an HSI special agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “HSI-UC”) successfully infiltrated the support staff involved in running Silk Road 2.0 and was given access to private, restricted areas of the site reserved for Benthall and his administrative staff. By doing so, the HSI-UC was able to interact directly with Benthall throughout his operation of the website.


    Benthall, of San Francisco, California, is charged with one count of conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of conspiring to commit computer hacking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

    Bharara praised the outstanding joint efforts of HSI and its Cyber Crimes Center and Chicago-O’Hare Field Office and the FBI and its New York Special Operations and Cyber Branch. He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which comprises agents and officers of the DEA, the Internal Revenue Service, the New York City Police Department, HSI, the New York State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, Office of Foreign Assets Control, and New York Department of Taxation.

    Mr. Bharara also thanked the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section for its assistance and support, the Office of International Affairs, and the law enforcement authorities of France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Bharara also noted that the investigation remains ongoing.


    The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serrin Turner, Timothy Howard, and Daniel Noble are leading the prosecution.


    The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/in...r-silk-road-20

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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    ‘Dark’ Network of Illegal Websites Targeted by U.S. and European Police

    By DOREEN CARVAJAL NOV. 7, 2014

    PARIS — An international task force of investigators pressed a series of raids and arrests on Friday in 16 countries aimed at shutting down a secret network of websites that matched anonymous sellers and buyers in a thriving black market.

    The latest phase of the investigation, named Operation Onymous, targeted mostly sellers of illicit goods and information, including drugs, stolen credit card numbers and weapons.


    It closed upward of 50 sites with names like Silk Road 2.0, Mr. Quid’s Forum, Paypal Center, Cannabis Road Markets and Blue Sky, according to Europol, the European Union’s police agency, which is based in The Hague.


    Across Europe, 17 sellers were arrested and the law enforcement authorities seized Bitcoins valued at $1 million, along with gold, cash and drugs, according to Troels Oerting, who leads Europol’s cybercrime unit.


    RELATED COVERAGE



    The so-called dark market “mushroomed” in recent months with an increase of web pages on a hidden network called Tor, Mr. Oerting said, “and we had to find a way to see how we could strike back.”

    “The business model is to create web stores on these hidden services and then use the normal transport to deliver it,” Mr. Oerting added. He noted that sellers mimicked conventional services, offering a system to review and rate the quality of service to discourage cheating.


    The operation was led by American agencies — the F.B.I. and Homeland Security Investigations — and coordinated by Europol to organize raids that started on Thursday and continued Friday.


    The raids came after a California man was arrested Wednesday and charged Thursday with operating a successor to the original Silk Road website, a Bitcoin-based black market where drug sales and other illegal activity had flourished.


    Silk Road 2.0 was formed last November “to fill the void” left by the government’s closing of the original website, according to a criminal complaint filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The site was “designed to enable users anywhere in the world to buy and sell illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement,” the complaint said.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/wo...n-onymous.html

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 11-07-2014 at 02:43 PM.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Dozens of ‘Dark Market’ websites seized as part of Silk Road 2.0 investigation

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent this bulletin at 11/07/2014 02:31 PM EST


    NEW YORK — Dozens of dark market websites offering a range of illegal goods and services for sale on the Tor network went dark Thursday following a coordinated international law enforcement action. The seizure of these dark market websites, including Silk Road 2.0, are the result of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI and law enforcement agencies of approximately 16 foreign nations working under the umbrella of EUROPOL’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Eurojust.


    The seizures follow the arrest Wednesday of Blake Benthall, aka “Defcon” for his alleged role in operating the Silk Road 2.0 website. This action constitutes the largest law enforcement action to date against criminal websites operating on the Tor network, a special network of computers on the Internet designed to conceal the true IP addresses of the computers on the network.

    HSI Executive Associate Director Peter Edge, Leslie R. Caldwell, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney of the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, assistant director in charge of the FBI New York made the announcement.

    “Underground websites such as Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 are like the Wild West of the Internet, where criminals can anonymously buy and sell all things illegal,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Peter Edge. “We will continue to use all of our resources and work closely with our U.S. and international law enforcement partners to shut down these hidden black market sites, and hold criminals accountable who use anonymous Internet software to peddle their illegal activities.”

    Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As illegal activity online becomes more prevalent, criminals can no longer expect that they can hide in the shadows of the ‘dark web.’ We shut down the original Silk Road website and now we have shut down its replacement, as well as multiple other ‘dark market’ sites allegedly offering all manner of illicit goods and services, from firearms to computer hacking. In coordination with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, we will continue to seize websites that promote illegal and harmful activities, and prosecute those who create and operate them.”

    Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said: “It is a plain fact that criminals use advanced technology to commit their crimes and conceal evidence – and they hide behind international borders so they can stymie law enforcement. But the global law enforcement community has innovated and collaborated to disrupt these ‘dark market’ websites, no matter how sophisticated or far-flung they have become.”

    “In today’s world, we do everything online from banking to grocery shopping. In much the same way, criminals have taken their illicit business to the ‘Tor’ network. However, websites that offer everything from drugs to illegal services on these black-market sites are not out of reach of law enforcement, as today’s announcement shows,” said George Venizelos, assistant director in charge of the FBI New York. “We will continue to work with law enforcement at home and abroad to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle illicit networks that pose a threat in cyberspace.”

    According to the forfeiture complaint and other public documents:

    This seizure operation targeted dozens of dark market website addresses and computer servers operating on what is known as “The Onion Router” or Tor network, part of the Internet designed to make it practically impossible to physically locate the computers hosting or accessing websites on the dark market sites. These sites were all operating online black markets, openly advertising on their home pages and offering to sell a variety of illicit goods and services to customers in the United States and elsewhere. The advertised goods and services included, among other things: illegal narcotics; firearms; stolen credit card data and personal identification information; counterfeit currency; fake passports and other identification documents; and computer-hacking tools and services.

    The dark market websites were designed to facilitate illicit commerce by providing anonymity to users, in at least two ways. First, the dark market sites were only accessible to users of the Tor anonymizing network. Second, the dark market sites accepted payments for their illicit goods and services in Bitcoin or similar electronic currency designed to be as anonymous as cash. The operation involved the seizure of over 400 Tor website addresses – known as “.onion” addresses – as well as the servers hosting them.

    Examples of the websites seized in the operation include:


    • “Pandora” (pandora3uym4z42b.onion), “Blue Sky” (blueskyplzv4fsti.onion), “Hydra”(hydrampvvnunildl.onion), and “Cloud Nine” (xvqrvtnn4pbcnxwt.onion), all of which were dark markets similar to Silk Road 2.0, offering an extensive range of illegal goods and services for sale, including drugs, stolen credit card data, counterfeit currency, and fake identity documents.



    • “Executive Outcomes” (http://iczyaan7hzkyjown.onion), which specialized in firearms trafficking, with offerings including assault rifles, automatic weapons, and sound suppressors. The site stated that it used “secure drop ship locations” throughout the world so that “anonymity [was] ensured” throughout the shipping process, and that all serial numbers from the weapons it sold were “remove[d] . . . and refill[ed] with metal.”



    • “Fake Real Plastic” (http://igvmwp3544wpnd6u.onion), which offered to sell counterfeit credit cards, encoded with “stolen credit card data” and “printed to look just like real VISA and Mastercards.” The cards were “[g]uaranteed to have at least $2500 left on [the] credit card limit” and could be embossed with “any name you want on the card.”



    • “Fake ID” (http://23swqgocas65z7xz.onion), which offered fake passports from a number of countries, advertised as “high quality” and having “all security features” of original documents. The site further advertised the ability to “affix almost all kind of stamps into the passports.”






    The seizures are the results of a joint effort by the following agencies: HSI and its Cyber Crimes Center and Chicago-O’Hare Field Office, the FBI and its New York Special Operations and Cyber Branch, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which comprises agents and officers of the DEA, the Internal Revenue Service, the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the New York Department of Taxation. The following agencies also contributed to the investigation: the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the Office of International Affairs, law enforcement authorities of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, whose actions have been coordinated through Eurojust and EUROPOL’s EC3. The investigation remains ongoing.

    The Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property, Organized Crime and Gang, and Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Sections and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting these cases.


    # ICE #

    http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSICE/bulletins/db1316

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  5. #5
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Huge raid shuts 400 'dark net' sites

    A joint operation between Europol's cybercrime centre and the FBI has resulted in the shutdown of a significant number of dark net sites...


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