German authorities have announced the removal of an illicit underground market called The Nemesis Market who dealt narcotics, stolen data and various cybercrime services.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (also known as the Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) said it has seized the digital infrastructure associated with the darknet service located in Germany and Lithuania and confiscated 94,000 euros ($102,107) in cryptocurrency assets.
The operation, conducted in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Germany, Lithuania and the United States, took place on March 20, 2024, following an extensive investigation that began in October 2022.
Founded in 2021, Nemesis Market was estimated to have more than 150,000 user accounts and 1,100 seller accounts from around the world before its closure. Nearly $20 of merchant accounts came from Germany.
“The range of goods available on the market includes narcotics, fraudulently obtained data and goods, as well as a selection of cybercrime services such as ransomware, phishing or DDoS attacks,” the BKA said.
The agency said further investigations are currently underway against criminal sellers and users of the platform. That said, no arrests have been made.
The development comes a month after another coordinated law enforcement operation shut down the LockBit ransomware group, taking control of the group’s servers and arresting three affiliates from Poland and Ukraine. The outage prompted the gang to relaunch its cyber extortion operation.
In recent months, German authorities have also dismantled Kingdom Market and Crimemarket, both of which boasted thousands of users and offered a wide range of money laundering and cybercrime services.