The administrator of the darknet is retiring after making an estimated $358 million. These administrators were involved in a criminal network for their business. They stole credit cards, and the darknet is part of the internet accessible through special browsing.
Why did administrators announce retirement?
The anonymous owners of UniCC appreciate the criminal network for business mentioning age and health for closing. Many other darknet businesses exit from the market for an unknown reason. Meanwhile, Cryptocurrency experts at Analysts Elliptic traced millions of dollars in digital currency payments to UniCC.
UniCC posted both in Russian and English on Darknet forums and said, ‘’ our team retires.’’ The anonymous criminals added, ‘’ we are not young and our health does not allow us to work like this any longer.’’
It was active since 2013 with tens of thousands of new stolen credit cards listed on the market for sale each day. They stole card details from online retailers, banks and payment companies. Meanwhile, sold them on the marketplace such as UniCC.
They steal cards are then use to purchase gift cards or high-value items. Later, these items were resell for cash.
In 2021 various largest darknet markets announced shutdown including the White house market, Cannazon, and Torrez. Torrez was involve in selling drugs, hacking tools, criminal services and counterfeit cash. It was one of the biggest closures.
Mostly, as darknet sites close down, it is an existing scam. They may be hack, or busted by police. Their operators disappear with vendors’ or clients’ money.
Voluntary Retirement
Prof David Decary- Hetu, criminologist at the University of Montreal said, ‘’ Right now it seems to be happening more. Markets gracefully exit and says, ‘’ we’ve made enough money, and before we get caught, we’re just going to retire and go into the sunset. ‘’
For police, it’s a kind of mixed feelings as criminals face justice voluntarily without any efforts.
Alex Hudson, the National Crime Agency’s head of Darknet Intelligence says, ‘’ I always celebrate anybody who perhaps realises that they’re in an occupation, which is criminalised and decided not to enhance that further.’’
He said, ‘’ if there is a regret, it’s that we do need to hold them accountable for it and they need to understand that they will still be held accountable.’’
However, these closures is positive. Though, it’s unlikely the end of the criminal marketplace.
