French police seized dark web marketplace Le Monde Parallèle

Last week, French authorities have seized the dark web marketplace Le Monde Parallèle, it is another success of national police in the fight against cybercrime.

French authorities seized the dark web marketplace Le Monde Parallèle, the operation is another success of national police in the fight against cybercrime activity in the dark web.

It is the third large French-speaking platform seized by the local police after Black Hand in 2018 and French Deep Web Market in 2019.

The seizure of the Le Monde Parallèle was the result of an operation conducted by the National Directorate of Intelligence and Customs Investigations (DNRED) that lasted several months.

The black marketplace was active since early 2020, sellers were offering any kind of legal product and service, including stolen card data, drugs, fake documents, and weapons. The crooks behind the dark web marketplaces addition were also operating a support forum.

The platform had thousands of users before being seized by the authorities.

According to a statement published by the Ministry of the Economy, the French authorities arrested two administrators of the platform and seized various computer equipment, false documents, bank cards and prepaid cards, several thousand euros in cryptocurrency.

“On May 17, 2021, DNRED agents carried out two home visits, in Paris and in the Metz region, following several months of investigation by the Cyberdouane service on the Darknet TOR aimed at identifying the administrators of the French-speaking platform ” Le Monde Parallèle ”(LMP), offering for sale various illicit products and services (drugs, false documents, weapons, carding, etc.).” reads the statement.

“I congratulate the agents of the DNRED for this new success against the traffickers active on the Darknet”, declared Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy. “By putting an end to the activity of the site” Le Monde Parallèle “, the customs carry the commitment of the government to fight all forms of crime including cyber delinquency which harms the French and the legal economy” , he added.

For Olivier Dussopt, Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, “this dismantling illustrates the permanent mobilization and the remarkable know-how of this administration, especially its specialized Cyberdouane unit, to hinder this threat emanating from the darkest part of the Internet” .

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Le Monde Parallèle)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.