As part of the operation, law enforcement seized $53 million in cash and cryptocurrency, dubbed SpecTor, and arrested 288 vendors selling illegal goods.
Law enforcement agencies around the world recently seized and shut down an illegal darknet marketplace called Monopoly Market as part of a crackdown on illicit cryptocurrency trading, according to a Europol press release on May 2.
As part of the operation, law enforcement seized $53.4 million in cash and cryptocurrency, dubbed SpecTor, and arrested 288 vendors who primarily sold drugs and guns through Monopoly Market and other similar websites.
Of the 288 people, 153 were arrested in the United States, 55 in the United Kingdom, and 52 in Germany, including a California man whose sales of methamphetamine and fentanyl slurry exceeded $2 million.
The remaining arrests were made in the Netherlands, Austria, France, Switzerland, Poland and Brazil.
Law enforcement agencies from eight countries are involved in Operation SpecTor.
Ghost Recon
According to Europol, Operation SpecTor began in October 2021 as part of the law enforcement agency’s efforts to seize and shut down Hydra and Genesis Market in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Hydra was the largest illegal marketplace operating on the dark web at the time, while Genesis was the largest identity theft marketplace.
Similar to the operation against Hydra, German police initially seized Monopoly Market’s server infrastructure in December 2021 and subsequently began a “honeypot” operation in collaboration with Europol and other agencies around the world.
The operation targeted “high value” suppliers of illicit goods valued at millions to multiple markets around the world.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Operation SpecTor is an “unprecedented” enforcement action by a coalition of U.S. and international law enforcement agencies targeting dark web drug markets and illicit crypto transactions.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release:
“The Department of Justice is cracking down on criminal transactions involving cryptocurrency and the online criminal marketplaces that facilitate these transactions.”
Merrick said the U.S. Department of Justice's efforts to combat the fentanyl epidemic and the Sinaloa cartel show that criminals are increasingly turning to the dark web and selling drugs for cryptocurrency.
He said it has become a trend in recent years for criminals to believe that anonymous sales on darknet markets allow them to evade the law. However, recent actions by law enforcement agencies have proven that anonymity does not protect these criminals.
He added that the DOJ intends to pursue every criminal on the dark web, no matter where they try to hide in the "furthest reaches of the internet."