
Cybercrime Supersite 'DarkMarket' Was FBI Sting, Documents Confirm - mariorz
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/darkmarket-post.html
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jcl
From the article linked at the bottom of the article:

"DarkMarket is the only survivor among the handful of crime forums that
emerged to fill the hole left by the Secret Service's "Operation Firewall" in
October 2004. In that unprecedented law enforcement crackdown, the agency used
an informant to target what was then the top crime site, Shadowcrew.com."

I think it's hilarious that the leading crime forums have been sting
operations for the last several years. How long before criminals start
assuming this is the case by default?

~~~
utnick
I'm sure they already do assume that, but an eastern european browsing off of
his neighbors wifi and 7 proxies probably doesnt care that the fbi is running
the forum as long as it works.

~~~
jcl
True, but some of them must be operating with faulty assumptions, since
otherwise the government derives little utility from running the site.

~~~
tsetse-fly
The value is in having nearly every cyber criminal on the planet gather at a
central location. They're able to easily build a database of usernames,
passwords, email addresses, and IPs. They can also monitor what type of goods
are being sold and new schemes that pop up.

Everyone knows that law enforcement runs/monitors these forums, but they don't
care. You need to be anonymous every step of the way.

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bigthboy
When reading this I begin to remember an article I read on MSNBC some time ago
about a sting operation in which several criminals (not violent ones, just
ones wanted for robberies of various sorts) were identified and traced but
were evading law enforcement. To solve this problem, police sent them priority
mail, from the Police Department mind you, informing them that they had all
won brand new 42" HDTVs, among other prizes, and that they needed to show up
at a local mall at such and such date/time in order to claim their prize.
Every single one of them showed up and were arrested upon walking in the door.

~~~
irinotecan
That's surprisingly a pretty common sting. I've heard it used to nab deadbeat
dads by getting them to all come to a stadium to "collect the prize they won".

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henning
love the printed out LOLcat picture in the lower right-hand corner of the
office picture -
[http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/13/ncfta_...](http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/13/ncfta_inside_660x.jpg)

~~~
louislouis
love how the head FBI agent was called 'Master Splynter'. Awesome.

------
Herring
I wonder if it's possible to solve this with something like a web of trust.

~~~
manny
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet_>(file_sharing)

