Pierluigi Paganini November 08, 2019

Italian law enforcement shut down the ‘Berlusconi market’ black market and arrested three suspected of being its administrators.

Italian financial police “Guardia di Finanza” shut down the ‘Berlusconi market’ black market hosted on the Tor network and arrested three administrators.

The site was managed by two individuals that go online with nicknames of “VladimirPutin” with the role of administrator and “EmmanuelMacron” as moderator.

The investigation, started last May as part of an investigation dubbed the Darknet operation. The police were investigating the traffic and sale of narcotic substances and identified a vendor, known in the Dark Web environment as g00d00. During the operation, law enforcement agents seized 2.2 kg of drugs (cocaine, ketamine, MDMA) that were ready to be marketed on the black marketplaces along with 163 ready-made ecstasy tablets and 78 stamps impregnated with LSD. 

The analysis of personal computers, notebooks, and smartphones seized during the operation allowed the investigators to trace the administrators of the Black Market called Berlusconi Market.

Since January 2019, Berlusconi Market represented the most important Dark Web market place, both in terms of quantity of items for sale and the volume of trade with over 100,000 announcements of illegal products.

From January 2019 ‘Berlusconi market’ represented the most important dark web market with over 100,000 announcements of illegal drugs and weapons products. Sellers were also offering for sale fake documents and banknotes. 

“It is the fourth investigation in the world aimed at making the dark web inoffensive”. said the chief prosecutor of Brescia, Carlo Nocerino. “This is the fourth operation after those of the US FBI and the Dutch Police agsinst Silk Road, AlphaBay and Hansa Market.” “According to those who investigate “the Berlusconi Market is the fourth example in the world of the Black Market of the Dark web today that is no longer operational”.

The popular blackmarket place was also offering for sale malware, hacking tools, hacking and bulletproof services, and stolen payment card data.

“From the complex of technical investigations carried out, it emerged that the three subjects established a criminal association for the administration of the Berlusconi Market platform, because: – they incurred the expenses related to its operation; – have made management decisions; – they were in possession of administrator credentials; – they divided among them the illicit proceeds accrued for about 41 bitcoins, equal to about 400,000.00 euros against a total volume of annual transactions equal to about 2 million euros.” reads the press release published by the Guardia di Finanza.

The trio is accused of operating the Berlusconi Market which was aimed at users from all over Europe, USA, Canada, Australia.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Berlusconi Market, dark web)

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