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Darknet search engine DeepDotWeb seized by FBI due to money laundering

Popular darknet search engine DeepDotWeb has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) due to allegations of money laundering.

DeepDotWeb acted as a resource for users who wanted to access illicit markets on the darknet. It provided links and reviews on darknet markets including Dream Marketplace, which was taken offline in mysterious circumstances last month.

According to Tech Crunch, law enforcement arrested the site’s moderator in Brazil, while five other arrests were made in Israel, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The website is reported to have made millions of dollars through affiliate links, as every time a user clicks through the link the site would earn commission through each sign-up.

According to a notice on the site: “This site has been seized by the FBI pursuant to a seizure warrant obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office of Pennsylvania.”

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) as well as Europol are both assisting with the investigations.

The abrupt closure of DeepDotWeb demonstrates the extent of an ongoing clampdown by law enforcement, with another one of the biggest dark markets, Wall Street Market, being taken down last Friday.

Three German nationals who allegedly ran the website were all arrested on narcotics and money laundering charges.

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Oliver Knight

Londoner ‘Ollie’ graduated from Birmingham City University with a journalism degree in 2016. He combines his writing with his love of crypto and blockchain here at Coin Rivet, saying “It disrupts well-established institutions (banks) while giving an avenue to the less fortunate to achieve financial freedom.” Like all true Londoners, his pet hate is… “People standing on the left-hand side of the escalators on the Tube!”.