Illegal-Goods Website AlphaBay Shut Following Law-Enforcement Action

Article on the Wall Street Journal posted today.

Full text:

By Robert McMillan and Aruna Viswanatha Updated July 13, 2017 3:04 p.m. ET

An online marketplace that sold illegal goods on the so-called Dark Web was shut last week following action by international authorities, according to people familiar with the matter.

The closing of AlphaBay, an anonymous marketplace that listed for sale drugs, counterfeit credit cards and other illegal goods, came after coordinated action by the U.S., Canada and Thailand, the people said.

The action included the arrest of Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen who allegedly was one of the site's operators, they said. He was found hanged in his cell Wednesday in Thailand, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Caze "passed away in Thailand," a spokeswoman for Canada's foreign affairs department said Thursday. She declined to comment further, citing privacy reasons.

Mr. Cazes was taken into custody July 5 in Thailand "with a view toward extradition to face federal criminal charges in the United States," according to Melissa Sweeney, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. The same day, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's high-technology crime unit executed a search warrant at a residence in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, said Camille Habel, a sergeant with the RCMP in Montreal.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Mr. Cazes had legal representation.

Following its creation in December 2014, AlphaBay emerged as an heir to the Silk Road, the online marketplace closed by federal authorities in October 2013. Both sites were accessible via Tor, a network that takes steps to preserve the anonymity of its users.

While the Silk Road's primary focus was drug sales, AlphaBay was more diverse, selling stolen credit-card numbers, drugs, online-fraud tutorials and guns, according to Andrei Barysevich, a director at Recorded Future Inc., which sells data about online threats and the Dark Web.

In the first six months of 2017, AlphaBay sold more than $5 million in stolen credit-card numbers, Mr. Barysevich said. "AlphaBay was the biggest marketplace on the Dark Web," he said.

Total sales on the site averaged between $600,000 and $800,000 a day, earning AlphaBay's operators millions of dollars each year in commissions, according to Nicolas Christin, an associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies online marketplaces.

AlphaBay's operators had millions of dollars in the digital currency bitcoin, much of it held in escrow for the site's illicit transactions, based on two bitcoin wallets that have been linked to the website, Mr. Barysevich said. The site's abrupt shutdown last week fueled speculation its operators had absconded with millions of dollars of the digital currency.

--Nicole Hong contributed to this article.

Write to Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com and Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com


Comments


[1 Points] None:

ID that is shadow banned posted this. Not copying and pasting it. It is the same bullshit. This just has pics of him and his Lambo, jail cell etc.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/alleged-founder-notorious-dark-web-10795471


[186 Points] zx88crackingforum:

Get a sentence like Ulbricht or take your own life.... interesting conundrum.


[141 Points] FrozenSignal:

Well this isnt looking good. "RCMP High Technology Crime Unit"

Something tells me either the site had a vulnerability that was uncovered that lead to the servers location, or there is a vulnerability in Tor itself.

Im not sure if the Hsdir camping attack still works, camping out in the hash ring over a long period of time until your relay becomes the directory for that onion address.

All of us familiar with Tor know how vulnerable it is to Time Correlation attacks. if the RCMPs unit was able to set up a bunch of relays across a majority of countries (Think the 5 eyes) its safe to say with the amount of time Ab was online (almost 3 years) these attacks could of been pulled off with a great amount of success.

a state level adversary with unlimited resources is a serious threat. Maybe another Tor exploit theyll refuse to disclose like with PP bust.

Rip Alexandre and to the rest of Ab. You did every bit to make this world a better place and we are all in your debt.


[73 Points] hhayn:

So a 25 year old kid was effectively the head of or deputy ops for AB? And he decided to check out after being captured in Thailand, where he'd been living quite comfortably as a non-fugitive expat, at the behest of the US and/or Canada? The whole thing is pretty fucking incredible.


[65 Points] quebec_meth:

There was an expert in Quebec on the news saying Alphabay couldn't exit scam because it was "wallet to wallet" lol fking news ppl in quebec dont know shit


[62 Points] king-ren:

While I have to give it to him for running the largest online drug marketplace in history, for a kingpin, he was pretty fucking stupid. Of all places, he chose to live in Thailand which has an extradition treaty with the USA and Canada. If he had ever gotten caught for financial crimes or anything else drug related, he would have been fucked regardless. People often joke about moving to Belize here, but he legitimately could've avoided prosecution had he lived somewhere outside of the overreaching arms of the USA.

"Cazes was arrested at his home at The Private House housing estate in Bangkok’s outskirts, where police said they seized property worth THB400 million (USD11.8 million) registered under his name, including four Lamborghini cars and three houses."

A part of me feels sorry for him, but another part of me is baffled by how negligent a kingpin who helped run a criminal enterprise for years could make such novice mistakes. Watching television movies could've taught him ho to avoid some of his pitfalls. Seriously.

He had cars, a mansion, and plenty of material items but ultimately greed was his downfall. He couldn't even hide his assets, yet some people used "auto-encrypt" on AlphaBay like it's Amazon. I hope his story serves as a reminder to everyone that we really have no fucking idea who runs these markets, or how they treat our data. Be safe out there, guys.


[54 Points] LivingOnAdrenaline:

Feel really bad for the Alphabay guys. They got a lot of shit constantly, some deserved though, but still...ran the biggest market and weren't always as bad as people made them out to be. Wonder how many got arrested, reckon some of their team didn't get arrested?


[46 Points] Bigw0rmer:

I mean i was 4 days ahead of this story . I wrote and told everyone what i knew to be true , and yet i get banned . Funny thing this isn't only a part of this story .. i just cant release more till i have my homework done on everything , but we know this for sure now . 1.That Ab was taken down by a joint task force and taken by LE + they have the coins ( server(s) being imaged as we speak ) 2 . the horrible and very sad death of one of the top chiefs of AB that can either be one of 2 people Desnake ( leaning towards ) or Raspi either way RIP .. like a person told me today "it must have been a lonely dark place for him" But feds now confirm that YES its an AB mod .

There still more heads to count on this tho we know the outcome of one of the mods , if i remember right there where 2 people arrested in Canada . Just for the noobs that this is there first go a round of this bust/exit scam and where are they nows , this one is by far going to be the most messy and sticky Busts yet .. Theres blood already spilled on this one


[41 Points] None:

[deleted]


[36 Points] None:

Maybe it is just me but I have to assume Dream is next. Stay safe kids. They are watching your every move. Fucking Fent!

The most important questions is still not answered. Where is the data? Were there backups? Does LE have AB operational records and data? I just hope for the community they had a disaster plan in place. Something tells me they didn't.

Also interesting approach. No talk no BS just did it. No banner talking about there wins.


[34 Points] 99999999999999999989:

Mods should prolly change the Active Warnings at this point, eh?


[36 Points] throwawayk5zq47j6wd3:

The focus is really on the credit card scams. Have a market that only deals with drugs instead of guns and fraud and that could take some heat off.


[34 Points] None:

At the time of his arrest, authorities also seized his Lamborghini.

Huh, I wonder how he could've ever been suspected of drug trafficking...


[33 Points] throwaway0905161:

RIP. It was fun while it lasted. I have so much respect for the people that are brave enough to run a market. At least all the alphabay haters can now shut up about an exit scam.


[27 Points] Diqqsnot:

why cant they just leave us the fuck alone, i mean its not like the US gov isnt doing shady or corrupt/evil shit the last 150 years, we just want our drugs damnit and obviously have to have cash to live in this shitty fucking world.


[25 Points] None:

I'm heartbroken he killed himself.

Alpha Bay was special.

Thailand is a risk.

"Recorded Future Inc., which sells data about online threats and the Dark Web."

Geez you gotta hide from those jerks also.


[23 Points] BigBootyRatchets:

Just makes you think. What do we do once dream and hansa get taken out? Cause fuck no I ain't going back to sucking dick for a hit of crack every couple days


[17 Points] Bigw0rmer:

This right here

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Mr. Cazes had legal representation.

with that type of money he should have had not a lawyer but 4 or 5 high powered lawyers paid off .. If i could speak with any of the staff memeber and advise them how to live as a criminal on the run , that's the very first thing i would say "buy lawyers "


[18 Points] None:

[deleted]


[13 Points] ice_cream4breakfast:

Looks like we have the answer


[13 Points] SirBandolero:

Thank you for sharing, op.


[10 Points] That_Guy_389:

It's sad really, all that work all gone. Sometimes I think that this will end dark net markets, but of course when one falls another rises.


[10 Points] synthetic_kinetic:

A vendor an AB last week sent me tracking in plaintext.

Should I clean house?


[8 Points] wombat2combat:

does anybody know ab's policy of guns and ammo over time? [i.e. when they allowed it, if they at some point started to ban these items, . . .]


[10 Points] TurnedOnTunedIn:

Fuck. That's heavy shit. Rip.

I wonder how a market would do with no credit cards, weapons, or drugs with a low ld50 (looking at you fent).

Pushing harm reduction and safe, tested drugs only, I bet alot of the heat would be off em.


[8 Points] None:

[removed]


[7 Points] benzoko:

"Canadian Mounted Police’s high-technology crime unit" Are they riding horses while using computers?


[6 Points] Renal_Toothpaste:

Rip ab and the one mod.


[6 Points] midnightmodders:

If the feds shut down AB would they have access to messages, order and sale numbers and potentially be able to track users?


[4 Points] None:

so you're telling me it is over? damn


[5 Points] samrhash:

Can we talk about how this motherfucker was 19 when he opened alphabay


[5 Points] Anotherwonton:

Does this confirm he was actually a part of alphabay ?


[3 Points] BakedPastaParty:

CAN SOMEONE W A WSJ ACCOUNT/ THAT HAS BYPASSED THE PAYWALL POST THE TEXT FOR US POOR COMMUNITY MEMBERS PLZ THX


[3 Points] FortMEAad:

UNBELIEVABLE! NSA DEEP STATE SCUM HITS AGAIN

WHy don't you cocksorkers lay off the deep web and stick to fucking up the rest of the world like you've done since TIA and the 70s came around? Blame the mounties while youre at it why dont ya!?

This operation has NSA written all over it. No one else is running the exit nodes. What a bunch of fucking pussies. Great job, you've killed another Aaron Schwartz\Ross Ulbricht type for all we know.

Someone sold fentaynol on the internet! ASSEMBLE THE TROOPS! Chinese import the shit all day left and right over the USA and no one moves or does a thing because your all glorified armchair warriors who've let the badge get to your heads. A sad day for civilization the advent of the internet and drug reform all around. Cow ards


[2 Points] TheColonelKiwi:

Quick question. Does this mean they have access to the accounts and messages between vendors and customers, if a customer forgot to encrypt their address using pgp once for a small order and they lived in the UK do you think they'd be at risk of cd or monitoring by the police or a love letter. I mean would it really be worth their time and if said customer started ordering from other markets would it be relatively risk free?


[2 Points] BakedPastaParty:

Fuck a paywall is there any way i could read this whole article?


[1 Points] MDMangle:

So some fed says.

Where's the proof? Where are the details? No quotes from law enforcement? No photos? No announcement? What the fuck actually happened? We learned almost nothing from this article, and that is amazing. Published in WSJ and no further facts? Fail. This article is a big nothing burger. Looking at you Robert and Aruna.


[2 Points] PM_ME_YOUR_XMR:

Three words, monero.


[2 Points] yetanotherabthroaway:

If this article is ANYTHING to go by "The site’s abrupt shutdown last week fueled speculation its operators had absconded with millions of dollars of the digital currency." implies that it was a scam before LE were involved.

Also there's no reason to believe Cazes really was the founder. There is more than one person who would benefit from spreading FUD in the news, LE benefit by the fear they may instill in anybody else who is running a dnm and the admins benefit by being able to lay low.

I still don't believe there's enough evidence and as some sites are reporting it is still not confirmed that Cazes was the founder and I find it hard to believe.


[2 Points] kookieless:

I'd believe it when there's an official statement either by AB (well may not believe them but if they are shutdown by LE they probably won't have the last word anyway) or by the FBI.

I found this article to be kinda misleading by the certainty of the claim, which at this time is rather unsupported. But I understand the the WSJ wanting early coverage of this event.


[2 Points] crushdudes:

Anyone know if we're ever going to get a writeup on how they found the operator/servers?

I'm pretty sure there's some way to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. Most of which involves storing the market's reserves in a multi-sig wallet, so the cops can't steal it.


[2 Points] JayCroghan:

You know for a while I was thinking why would anyone kill him. The suicide thing never even entered my head because come on. But then it dawned on me, with being dead, there is no court case, so they don't need to reveal any information about how they found the servers, the site and the man in charge. Nothing. That's some creepy shit right there.


[2 Points] Jevvishzealot:

They str8 killed that fool.. thai people are racist


[1 Points] writingpoli:

So Nicole, Aruna or Robert has visited the threads here. Great reporting.


[1 Points] BigBootyRatchets:

Appreciate the post dude. At the end of the day, there's only two options being you're gonna get a life sentence or you exit scam and reap the $$$


[1 Points] None:

[removed]


[1 Points] enjoiexpress:

Goodnight my sweet prince, had many fond memories of the two of us, you'll be missed. 💔


[1 Points] Inthewirelain:

So... which admin was it, I wonder?


[1 Points] Coolbreazzz:

Sounded gay...I am watching tonight


[1 Points] tgif3:

Now that he is dead there will be no police or court document stating how he was found.


[1 Points] janustrap:

does this mean all our id/pw comobo is leaked?


[1 Points] alfabi:

RIP AB


[1 Points] None:

Perhaps its time to look at the decentralized markets that use the blockchain, use a vpn and tor for security. As its on the chain it cant be taken down


[1 Points] methbat:

im gonna go ahead and assume the odds of a guy that ordered literally 5 items from there in my life that all showed...(except one..that apocathary dick wad that got banned (supposed NL vendor, i guess if you count that 6 items...all under diff user names...) are pretty unlikely...how many" dude your fucked" replies am i gonna have to sift through...all orders done via tails


[1 Points] throwawaydnm99:

The guy who founded the site was alpha02. I know because I was a member of TCF and he was a member there too and he would post carding guides, and the dude even admitted to being from Canada and he even made posts about how he was taking trips to Thailand so this is definitely him.


[1 Points] fagblowme:

Sounds to me like this guy was the fall guy. Who is dumb enough to put a bunch of assets in their name, live in a country thats super harsh on drugs, which has an extradition treaty to the US...?

LESSON FOR YOU ALL: If you're going to try to make money on the dnm, which you should not do, live in Russia and spend the money on hookers, not cars.


[1 Points] Claklylackingwerk:

If you think of how fast AB was to go to accepting all of the new forms of coins and then how slow transaction times were becoming and then how many vendors on that page would accept your trade to get your information (name and shipping location) and then cancel trade with no response or trades would auto cancel .
Then on the new page and servers are being seized every minute of every day and user accounts are getting sold to other vendors everyday and that's talking about the physical software transfer .
And then you hope when looking.for.a new vendor it's not already someone who is....?? Ok . I will I have. I have yo .. to 2? If i.wont .


[0 Points] MT_Merchant_Mangler:

Say what you will about Ross/DPR...At least he stood tall on all 10 toes.


[0 Points] ig-eighty8:

Does this confirm what AK hinted at a while back?


[0 Points] Bigw0rmer:

This story is going all over the world . Crazy the power of this sub

Some articles saying the same ol stuff basically but some new photos him at 17 ( poor sap couldn't even tie his tie straight )

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/actualites-judiciaires/201707/13/01-5116058-quebecois-mort-en-thailande-cazes-etait-au-coeur-dune-enquete-du-fbi.php

This one off his now deleted Facebook account . But the article talks to DeSnakes father Martin Cazes in which he describes his son as someone who would not hurt a fly.

The father suspects he got killed in jail ... saying that It was un like him to do so .. They are waiting for the autopsy

Also his wife is pregnant And due to give birth any week now

http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/societe/archives/2017/07/20170714-172941.html

i wonder if he told anything to the cops , and gave up everything to his computers . Also stuff is still really quite tho i wonder who else they caught and what they are saying to the cops . i Do know for one Montreal wasnt the only server busted there is others .


[-1 Points] yetanotherabthroaway:

Sorry but guys please don't just take this as gospel truth just because it's from WSJ. There's no proof this is the admin or had anything to do with AB, admins could still be alive and laying low or anything really.

Either way RIP to that guy and speculation fucking sucks. I'm going to sign off this account for good now, I'm bored of reading half-truths.


[-1 Points] MandyThatGirl:

Worst case of Suicide they ever saw said the prison staff of the foriegn inmate with chop sticks sticking out of nostrils.


[-2 Points] Bigw0rmer:

Well this story is going viral , im proud that i was the first one to report on this ! and give the links and pictures , glad to start helping people provide some clouser . But there still some admins out there being hunted and from what i hear from my source is that theres more server than just one .. and they have the name of the admins on the loose its just finding where they are at .


[-2 Points] Bigw0rmer:

This story is starting to blow up all over the world , with parts missing ... man i finally did something good for once . But knowing Admins are running around with millions makes me wanna know where they are >: / .. you know for the people and stuff