One former US law enforcement official involved in the original AlphaBay investigation, who asked not to be named, also expressed doubts. “If I were a vendor or user on this site, I would be very concerned with it being either set up for an exit scam or some type of honeypot operation,” the former official said, noting that they’re not aware of any ongoing law enforcement operations that may be targeting the site. As DeSnake describes it, AlphaGuard will automatically rent and set up new servers if it detects that AlphaBay’s are being taken offline. He even claims that AlphaGuard will automatically hack other websites and plant data on their servers to give users “withdrawal codes” they can use to save the cryptocurrency they’ve stored on AlphaBay in case of a takedown.
The second category consists of data stores, which specialize in stolen information. It’ll be quiet on the dark web until people can find a reliable marketplace again, but eventually they will, said Emily Wilson, the director of analysis at Terbium Labs. Security company McAfee found that the upstart dark market House of Lions was offering vendors from AlphaBay a discount if they moved to their platform. Rowley noticed chatter on forums and subreddits pointing to Dream Market as the next AlphaBay, but people are wary after the Dutch police ploy. “After the closure of the AlphaBay market, many vendors expressed that they were moving their operations to Hansa and Dream Market,” Liv Rowley, an analyst at Flashpoint, said.
Whats Going On With Alphabay Links???
Dutch police, operating servers across the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Germany, capitalized on the eight-fold surge of users visiting the market in the weeks following. The authorities used the time to gather information on high value targets and identified delivery addresses for sizable orders, passing along 10,000 international addresses of buyers to Europol. During the summer of 2017, one of the most intriguing and well-orchestrated international law enforcement efforts in history converged to take down some of the most successful darknet markets to-date.
Alphabay Market
This subreddit is regularly used as a sort of meeting place for users of AlphaBay, where customers can publish reviews of a vendor’s products, or drug dealers can announce new products. Tor2door’s a standout since 2020 with 20,000+ listings and a custom design that’s not off-the-shelf junk. BTC and Monero accepted, with multi-signature escrow and global shipping—vendors love it, and I’ve seen why after snagging some rare stuff hassle-free.
Learn how to automate financial risk reports using AI and news data with this guide for product managers, featuring tools from Webz.io and OpenAI. If you ever decide to explore the dark web, protecting your identity is crucial. Most people start by using the Tor Browser, which hides your IP address. For instance, cybercriminals can buy credit card details with a $5,000 balance for just $110. Today’s cybercriminals spread their activities across multiple platforms, making them harder to track and shut down.
However, You are owner of your life and it’s your job to judge what is good and bad for you. The official .onion link is not even saying that the server can’t be reached but that the .onion is not found. Established in 2022, WizardShop is one of the biggest data stores on the dark web, focusing mainly on carding and financial data. STYX Market focuses specifically on financial fraud, making it a go-to destination for cybercriminals engaged in this activity. Cybersecurity experts should pay close attention to these trends, as they often indicate emerging threats and profit-generating tactics among the cybercriminal forums.
Don’t Trust Darknetonecom, They’re Using The Phishing Alphabay Link In There Listing online Instead Of onion
He says many dark web drug vendors have learned to sell across multiple different marketplaces to diversify their risk. On the AlphaBay subreddit, moderators, which in the past have included staff members of the market, post a selection of legitimate links, and they don’t include lolitwors’. When Motherboard entered in a fabricated username and password, the site tried to redirect to a legitimate AlphaBay URL. But with the real site being down, that obviously did not work—clearly lolitwors’ link can’t access AlphaBay, as he claims. Lolitwors is right that the CAPTCHA doesn’t display, but that’s a red flag—AlphaBay’s homepage requires a user to complete a CAPTCHA to successfully login. And finally, Googling the specific .onion URL returns several reports that the site is fake.
Lookback: AlphaBay Market And Operation Bayonet Takedown
Based on our observations from analysis on dark web data using Lunar, we’ve identified the top 7 marketplaces on the dark web in 2025. We developed Lunar to monitor the deep and dark web, including dark web marketplace sites. Launched in September 2022, Torzon Market operates on the Tor network and features over 11,600 illegal products, including drugs and hacking tools. It enhances buyer transparency by importing vendor feedback with PGP proof. Torzon offers a premium account option for additional benefits and is valued at approximately $15 million, accepting payments in Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR). Some dark web marketplaces even host content that’s not just illegal but extremely harmful, so it’s really important to understand the risks before diving in.
Donate Support The Tor Project Today! Privacy Is A Human Right 🙂
- They take Bitcoin and Monero, and their multi-signature escrow system keeps deals safe.
- AlphaBay has long been rumored to have some sort of connections to Russia or Russians.
- In 2016, an angry user of AlphaBay known as “Kinger” stated that alpha02 had left the market in late 2015, sold his stake to DeSnake, and DeSnake was supposedly acting as admin for its final two years.
- Torrez has been steady since 2020, rocking 4,650+ listings with BTC, LTC, ZCash, and Monero.
- But dark web practitioners still have vague fears that law enforcement agencies found a method of breaking AlphaBay’s Tor protection–which potentially means sites like Dream Market and Hansa are vulnerable too.
“Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, Ruth Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melody Wells and Ann Marie Ursini.
Incognito’s all about keeping things easy and safe—perfect if you’re avoiding street buys. What sets them apart is their support—real-time chat that’s saved my bacon a couple times when a deal went sideways. They’re planning some vendor recommendation thing for 2025, which could shake things up for new sellers—kinda ties into the community vibe. The site’s clean, escrow works like a charm, and the community’s buzzing about how reliable it is—definitely worth a look. Abacus is a beast in 2025—over 40,000 listings and still growing.
Russian Market
The link I used started with g and did not have alphabay anywhere in it. According to another complaint affidavit filed in the Middle District of Florida against Jeremy Achey, an investigation into a fentanyl overdose death in Orange County, Florida, on February 27, revealed that the lethal substance was purchased on AlphaBay from Achey. The investigation into AlphaBay revealed that numerous vendors sold fentanyl and heroin, and there have been multiple overdose deaths across the country attributed to purchases on the site. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California filed a civil forfeiture complaint against Alexandre Cazes and his wife’s assets located throughout the world, including in Thailand, Cyprus, Lichtenstein, and Antigua & Barbuda.
These platforms sell everything from drugs and fake IDs to weapons and hacking tools, resembling a digital black-market bazaar. AlphaBay is a principle-driven, vision oriented and community centered marketplace and Forum for all black market items. It boasts of mature management, unparalleled security, 24/7 professional & well-trained Staff.
Its affordability and reliability have earned it a loyal customer base. The platform’s activity has increased significantly over the past year, indicating its growing influence and market share in the underground economy. It maintains a very strict level of user verification and integration with an official Telegram account to provide real-time updates to users. Various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Monero can be used to make purchases. Security researchers have been monitoring forums within the cybercriminal underworld to investigate the leading markets operating in 2024.
No Referral Links Or URL Shorteners
Despite growing crackdowns from law enforcement agencies, the dark web remains a hotbed of criminal activity, offering everything from drugs to stolen data. FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe acknowledged shutting down such markets was like playing whack-a-mole. His agency would likely have to take on more massive dark web marketplaces in the future, he said. A recent study by the University of Manchester and think tank Rand Europe found 811 arms-related listings on just 12 dark web marketplaces. The researchers found nearly 60% of the weapons came from the US and most of the sales were headed to Europe.
Although probably the darknet community has never been as big as it is today, we do not see anymore the same enthusiasm or a solid community around markets like before. We want to extend our hand in a sign of friendship to all other markets like us, and the possibility of cooperating together to make the darknet an unified and united community for the freedom of all of us. We want to thanks valuable figures like HugBunter, Paris or Mr White working really hard for the darknet community and even making opensource the EndGame giving market’s admin a free tool to fight against ddos attacks.
