The biggest Dark Web takedown yet sends black markets reeling

[S.J.B.]

The secret life of Alexandre Cazes, alleged dark web mastermind
Andrea Bellemare
CBC
July 23rd, 2017

Alexandre Cazes was just 25, but according to U.S. government documents he was the alleged mastermind behind AlphaBay, the most profitable dark web marketplace in the world, and a millionaire who owned luxury cars and multiple properties in Thailand, Cyprus and Antigua.

By his own accounting, Cazes was worth about $23 million US, including $12.5 million in properties and vehicles, and the rest in cash and cryptocurrencies.

Cazes, from Trois-Rivières, Que., was arrested July 5 in Thailand, the result of what U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called "one of the most important criminal investigations of this entire year," an investigation that saw the shuttering of a market that offered weapons, drugs and stolen identities to over 200,000 customers.

Cazes was found dead in a Thai jail a week later, on July 12. U.S. Justice officials said he took his own life.

Despite his apparent success in creating an extremely profitable illegal marketplace, he was brought down by a Hotmail address and an unencrypted laptop.

Read the full story here.

It sounds like the guy was kind of an asshole and not nearly as careful as he should have been. Still... props to him for running such a successful market. May his successor be more careful!

 

['medicine cabinet']

Totally agree with you. I have yet to see a DNM article that focuses on personal use buyers, and rarely even mentions the people who are buying the $1m/day in drugs... Anyone who is already buying/using drugs is only going to be more interested after reading an article, even one about the fall of a marketplace. (I'm pretty sure that's how I first got on SR1--read an article and it sounded cool, so I figured out how)

Alphabay was totally on its last legs though, even without government intervention. So much controversy over whether it was secure, and they never integrated new security measures like other markets. I wouldn't say good riddance, but it really doesn't matter, they were replaced before they were gone. Hopefully the new alternatives continue to improve their UI and security.

Agreed. I stopped using ab a long time ago and it was hearing lot of rumors of exit scams ect..so I basically do DDs now bc the few ppl I order from seem to be about biz

 

[blistersinthedark]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...an-allegedly-behind-alphabay/article35772750/


Douche it to the limit

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah "apparent suicide"... somehow I don't think so.

one article i read in the last few days seemed to suggest that the more busts/scams there are, the more people hear about these sites, and rather than deter people, it so far has apparently had the opposite effect; even bad publicity is apparently bringing in new customers.

sounds crazy, but it seems that most serious legal risk is carried by the vendors. the more the word gets out,the more customers flock to the DNMs, or so the editorial i read opined.

That was very much what happened with some of the anti-drug campaigns of the 80's or 90's in the UK. There is no doubt that increased busts and media attention fuel interest in DNMs.

For anyone who still uses yahoo (or former subsidiaries), probably a good time to find a different email client. I feel like someone who can still be associated with one of those domains after all the drama surrounding privacy breaches is hardly doing their job as someone involved in cryptocurrency or DNMs.