The Deep Web's top drugs marketplace suddenly vanished overnight in an apparent $12 m

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The Deep Web's top drugs marketplace suddenly vanished overnight in an apparent $12 million scam
ROB PRICE
MAR. 18, 2015


The top Deep Web drugs marketplace, Evolution, suddenly vanished overnight, Wired's Andy Greenberg reported, in what appears to be a scam.

Evolution was accessible only through the anonymous web-browsing software Tor. It functioned as a kind of eBay for drugs and illicit substances: After registering an account for free, users could browse thousands of user-submitted listings, buy products with the digital currency bitcoin, and leave ratings and reviews on vendors' pages.

In addition to drugs, Evolution sold hacking tutorials, stolen goods, weapons, and an array of other hard-to-find contraband.

But now the marketplace and its accompanying forum have vanished. The site is no longer online. Greenberg reported that the site, which holds vendors' bitcoin funds in escrow, halted withdrawals over the weekend, citing "technical difficulties." The site then disappeared on Tuesday night.

Security researcher Brian Krebs writes that more than $12 million worth of bitcoin may have disappeared in the apparent scam.

The best known of the Deep Web marketplaces was undoubtedly Silk Road — the libertarian-tinged drugs free-for-all that Ross Ulbricht was convicted of running earlier this year. After Silk Road's closure in November 2013, there has been a concerted clampdown by global authorities on Deep Web drug vendors.

In November, a year to the day after Ulbricht was first arrested, a coalition of international law-enforcement groups swooped in on hundreds of Deep Web sites in Operation Onymous. The Silk Road successor Silk Road 2.0 was shut down, and alleged administrator Blake Benthall was arrested, along with more than a dozen others around the world.

Since then, Evolution grew to become one of the largest illicit marketplaces on the Deep Web. Whereas the original Silk Road's administrator Dread Pirate Roberts (Ulbricht, according to prosecutors) was outspokenly political, the Evolution administrator Verto is far more reserved, avoiding all publicity and press requests. Verto is also far more mercenary in his or her approach to business, previously operating a "carding" forum that helped facilitate identity theft. Verto is joined on Evolution by a second administrator, Kimble.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/deep...parent-scam-vertu-kimble-2015-3#ixzz3Ukanr9zE
 
Pretty sick, yeah. I came here after reading in on slashdot an hour ago. Not surprisingly, the opinion on slashdot is that you shouldn't be surprised to get burned if you give your money to criminals.
 
I wonder if someone will eventually find them, probably not. Quite a good (and dickhead) move
 
I lost $335 dollars due to these motherfuckers!!! im sure theres some pissed off dealers with big bucks willing to hire special people to find these guys. but i still doubt they will find them honestly. THE ANONYMITY IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE
 
Is this the darknet markets’ biggest scam yet?

It’s probably the biggest exit scam of the darknet markets so far. Evolution marketplace has closed down and bitcoin is moving through the blockchain as I write. it’s hard to tell just yet how much of the $12 million that’s gone through that account the administrators have made off with.

I hate to the bearer of bad news, but I’ve been suspicious the past few days with withdrawals not working and admins usually are more forth coming in explaining to me why they’re slow but they weren’t this time. Just kept giving me time-frames I have admin access to see parts of the back end, the admins are preparing to exit scam with all the funds. Not a single withdrawal has gone through in almost a week. Automatic withdrawals has been disabled which is only doing on rare occasions I am so sorry, but Verto and Kimble have fucked us all. I have over $20,000 in escrow myself from sales. I can’t fucking believe it, absolute scum. I am giving this warning to you all as soon as I possibly could of. Confronted Kimble and Verto about it, they confirmed it and they’re doing it right now.. EDIT: Servers have gone down, including back up server for staff. I’m sorry for everyone’s loses, I’m gutted and speechless. I feel so betrayed.
Click to expand...

Evolution’s main administrator, who goes by the name “Verto”, was named by Wired earlier this year as one of the most dangerous people on the internet. He will now be watching his back as customers and vendors bay for his blood. Some are already offering bounties to track him down. One PGP-signed message says:

There is more going on here then meets the eye. Thats all I’ll say for tonight, but I will put this message out there (and MANY, MANY in this community can vouche for me. /u/lamoustache for one)
Click to expand...

Cont -

http://allthingsvice.com/2015/03/18/is-this-the-darknet-markets-biggest-scam-yet/
 
Offtopic, but: When the FBI stole my money where did they go? And can they really do that?
 
This is the problem with the dark. Rotten stuff is there. This is why drugs need to be legal, and in the light.

I want to be able to purchase with my plastic card pot and not worry about it any more than I would purchasing any other herb, or beer.

I wasn't a customer of that site, but it has definitely effected one I might or might not be one of..
 
All of these markets are extremely fly-by-night, here-today-gone-tomorrow type operations. I can understand why people would be upset by losing money but there's a certain amount of inherent financial risk one has to accept if they choose to use a service like that, I think.
 
Another one down! It's the dealers who get shit on and this is also why escrow will never be fully implemented or used as much as people (buyers) would like. Anyway, anyone who keeps their BTC in somebody else's wallet is asking for it.
 
‘I think they will start breaking toes’: Evolution Marketplace goes down in massive Bitcoin heist

893098-fc6f9a50-ce99-11e4-9cb0-ca25d560d473.jpg


FOOL me once, shame on you. Fool me, can’t get fooled again.

Another multi-million dollar Bitcoin heist could be the nail in the coffin for the troubled cryptocurrency.

Users of an online drug marketplace are calling for blood after two of its owners apparently made off with millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins.

The admins of Evolution Marketplace, a darknet site which was widely seen as the successor to the now defunct Silk Road, are facing threats of murder for stealing 130,000 bitcoins worth roughly $US34 million.

It’s what’s known as an ‘exit scam’ — literally shutting down a marketplace and making off with all the money — and it’s not the first time it’s happened.

The largest ever Bitcoin heist occurred in 2014, when users of the Mt Gox exchange lost around $US450 million worth of the cryptocurrency in what are still murky circumstances.

Posters on Reddit who have been documenting the heist allege that the admin duo, known as Kimble and Verto, are former credit card thieves. Others claim they saw the warning signs and pulled their money out early.

At least one person warned a scam was imminent before the site went down. “I have admin access to see parts of the back end, the admins are preparing to exit scam with all the funds,” wrote user NSWGreat.

“Not a single withdrawal has gone through in almost a week. Automatic withdrawals has been disabled which is only doing on rare occasions. I am so sorry, but Verto and Kimble have f****d us all. I have over $20,000 in escrow myself from sales.”

Evolution Marketplace, or Evo, sold more than 15,000 illegal products, from drugs to weapons to stolen information.

One user claims he owes money to real-life drug dealers who advanced him cash to start dealing on the site. “We are going to see a movie then I think they will start breaking toes,” wrote Nobu7. “I’m shaking.”

The value of Bitcoin has been plummeting since the news of the latest heist broke. At the time of writing, one Bitcoin was worth $A343.

Some users were unsympathetic, pointing to the inherent risk of trading in an unregulated currency. “The worst part is that no one could have seen this coming,” wrote crmi.

Another added: “You mean you can’t trust anonymous internet criminals with large piles of money? What has this world come to!”

Some have pointed out that the libertarian dream of a totally unregulated monetary system may have its drawbacks. “This is like step 125 on the journey of [Bitcoin users] discovering piece by piece exactly why financial regulations exist,” another said.
Click to expand...

Source: http://www.news.com.au/finance/mone...ve-bitcoin-heist/story-e6frfmci-1227270892566

This one says $34 Million vanished. Who to believe?
 
These guys knew that no one was going to go and rat to the police that they just lost $2000 for selling drugs online so they took the opportunity and ran. Unfortunately for folks like these who operate such dodgy market places, even $15 million isn't enough for them thus they will get busted, shot and killed in no particular order.
 
No surprises, these sites (especially when they are the #1 site running, just look at the track record) will disappear for one reason or another. Look at how its gone since the first one, the original Silk Road. Its either seizure by busting the person operating the site or they know that outcome is inevitable and scoot away into the night with millions of bitcoins to launder. I will say, the ones who slipped away and robbed their customers & vendors have to be looked at as the smarter ones. I don't even use these sites but have signed up to access a few just to look at what is going on with them and the whole history of them interests me.

Just look at the history of the sites:Silk Road 1 (seized, owner likely seeing much prison time)...Then 2 more took shape, Sheep and Black Market Reloaded, I believe the former pulled the same move Evolution just did (smaller scale, significantly as it was #2 to BMR and not around very long) and BMR just shut down out of fear, but did it respectfully to their users...Then Silk Road 2.0, seized, creator/operator to be tried..... Now Evolution and it ended in a scam. It will be interesting to see where things for from here. Agora is out there but seems to be very careful, not open to registration without some sort of personal invite. Hard to not believe a similar site will not pop up in the near future, someone out there will not be able to resist the allure if they have the know how to run the operation. For all you know, the owner(s) of Evolution could turn around and open a new site under a different name, after robbing all those people, and most would go back and use their site.



Funny to read article I just came upon: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...silk-road-verdict-blames-ulbrichts-bad-opsec/

That article basically talks about Evolution users who were defending Ross Ulbricht, the creator and operator of the original Silk Road (as any know, I'm sure). Ironic, to some degree.
 
RTrain said:
No surprises, these sites (especially when they are the #1 site running, just look at the track record) will disappear for one reason or another. Look at how its gone since the first one, the original Silk Road. Its either seizure by busting the person operating the site or they know that outcome is inevitable and scoot away into the night with millions of bitcoins to launder. I will say, the ones who slipped away and robbed their customers & vendors have to be looked at as the smarter ones. I don't even use these sites but have signed up to access a few just to look at what is going on with them and the whole history of them interests me.

Just look at the history of the sites:Silk Road 1 (seized, owner likely seeing much prison time)...Then 2 more took shape, Sheep and Black Market Reloaded, I believe the former pulled the same move Evolution just did (smaller scale, significantly as it was #2 to BMR and not around very long) and BMR just shut down out of fear, but did it respectfully to their users...Then Silk Road 2.0, seized, creator/operator to be tried..... Now Evolution and it ended in a scam. It will be interesting to see where things for from here. Agora is out there but seems to be very careful, not open to registration without some sort of personal invite. Hard to not believe a similar site will not pop up in the near future, someone out there will not be able to resist the allure if they have the know how to run the operation. For all you know, the owner(s) of Evolution could turn around and open a new site under a different name, after robbing all those people, and most would go back and use their site.



Funny to read article I just came upon: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...silk-road-verdict-blames-ulbrichts-bad-opsec/

That article basically talks about Evolution users who were defending Ross Ulbricht, the creator and operator of the original Silk Road (as any know, I'm sure). Ironic, to some degree.
Click to expand...

It's really understandable why someone would want to get out of that kind of business while the gettin's good, for sure. Darknet markets aren't permanent institutions nor should they be...I think the future of such markets will probably be some kind of system of very transient and multiple platforms. the mindset SR had of "we're an institution who will always be here" doesn't seem realistic or even desirable. It just seems like that makes you a huge fixed target for those who want to destroy you.

The guy/girl who did BMR actually exited the game in a honorable way, giving the users of the site plenty of advanced warnings in regards to his/her intentions, so there are people who do it right.
 
Half the people complaining want to have their cake and eat it too imo.
yeah, you, the buyers, got beat (but the vendors are the people who really got beat), but being drugs are illegal, thats a risk you have to take.
half of the people doing such things seem to have unrealistic expectations and shit imo anyway.
and half of them seem to me that they wouldnt even know where to start if someone wasnt blatantly selling things on the internet, so they have no understanding of the inherent criminality at all levels of the drug game.
 
Comes with the territory. That idiot who left $20k in escrow was, well, an idiot. Another will pop up to take it's place, and the cycle will keep going until our drug laws change.
 
Pretty smart to bail before shit comes crashing down as it inevitably will. Dickhead move? yes. Will he/she get away clean? Most likely not. Lots of pissed folks out there.

Personally, I'm not smart enough to get involved in this whole dark web thing. I looked into it, briefly, but was too perplexed and too sketched out to take it anywhere.

Curious to see how all of this plays out though. I thought it was bad getting ripped off in the hood...lol

Have to say though, are you really that surprised to get ripped off from a secret website with anonymous users selling illegal shit?
 
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