04 Jul, 2026

DraftKings hacker ‘Snoopy’ sentenced to 18 months in prison

A 21-year-old using the alias “Snoopy” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in hacking DraftKings accounts in the November 2022 cyberattack. In December 2025, the man, Nathan Austad of Minnesota, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, admitting that he and co-conspirators compromised 60,000 DraftKings user accounts. During the attack, the […]

2 mins read

Dark web Nemesis Market vendor gets 26 years for selling drugs

A California man was sentenced to more than 26 years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine through Nemesis Market, one of the world’s largest dark web marketplaces. 39-year-old Darren Hughes of San Jose was convicted on drug trafficking charges in November 2025 and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Kness on […]

2 mins read

Police dismantles fake ID marketplace used by migrant smugglers

French and Spanish authorities took down an online marketplace selling fake identity documents to migrant smuggling rings operating within the European Union. On May 27, law enforcement officers arrested one suspect in Alicante, Spain, and seized document-production equipment and approximately 800 counterfeit European identity documents from an apartment rented under a false name. This investigation […]

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US charges suspected Dream Market admin arrested in Germany

The alleged main administrator of Dream Market Incognito Market, one of the largest dark web marketplaces before its shutdown, has been indicted in the United States on money laundering charges. 49-year-old Owe Martin Andresen was charged by a federal grand jury on Wednesday with six counts of international concealment money laundering and six counts of […]

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Police shut down reboot of Crimenetwork marketplace, arrest admin

German authorities have shut down a relaunch version of the criminal marketplace ‘Crimenetwork’ that generated more than 3.6 million euros, and arrested its operator. Crimenetwork was the largest online cybercrime marketplace in Germany, operating since 2012 and with 100,000 registered users. The platform enabled the sale of illegal services, substances, and stolen data. In late […]

2 mins read

UK sanctions Xinbi marketplace linked to Asian scam centers

The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has sanctioned Xinbi, a Chinese-language online marketplace that sells stolen data and satellite internet equipment to scam networks in Southeast Asia. The Telegram-based marketplace Xinbi is also believed to have helped North Korean threat actors launder cryptocurrency stolen in large heists from companies and individuals worldwide. […]

3 mins read

Glendale man gets 5 years in prison for role in darknet drug ring

​A Glendale man was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a darknet drug trafficking operation that sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to customers across the United States. 36-year-old Davit Avalyan received a 57-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles after pleading guilty in October […]

2 mins read

Owner of Incognito dark web drugs market gets 30 years in prison

A Taiwanese man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating Incognito Market, one of the world’s largest online narcotics marketplaces that sold over $105 million worth of illegal drugs to customers worldwide. 24-year-old Rui-Siang Lin (also known as Ruisiang Lin, Pharoah, and faro) was arrested in May 2024 and pleaded guilty in December to money laundering, conspiring […]

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Empire cybercrime market owner pleads guilty to drug conspiracy

​A Virginia man who co-created Empire Market, one of the largest dark web marketplaces at the time, pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges for facilitating $430 million in illegal transactions from 2018 to 2020. The marketplace operated as a hidden service accessible only via TOR browsers and was advertised as an AlphaBay “clone,” modeled […]

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Slovakian man pleads guilty to operating darknet marketplace

A Slovakian national admitted on Tuesday to helping operate a darknet marketplace that sold narcotics, cybercrime tools and services, fake government IDs, and stolen personal information for more than two years. 33-year-old Alan Bill (also known online as “Vend0r” or “KingdomOfficial”) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for his role in running Kingdom […]

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