Brussels, Europe Brief News – Europol executed a sting operation on the illegal internet marketplace RaidForums. Police said they detained a forum administrator and two collaborators. According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), it included a British citizen, one of the authorities engaged.
The Croydon-born suspect, 21, is accused of being an administrator on the website. They helped handle memberships and payments via various firms, police suspect.
Moreover, Officers confiscated £5,000 in cash, thousands in US dollars, and froze crypto assets worth over $500,000 at the arrest.
The illegal marketplace #RaidForums has been shut down 💻
Its administrator & two accomplices arrested 🚔
Once again, international #lawenforcement cooperation leads to a major success 🤝 and we are just getting started.#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/gGawRPkimj
— EC3 (@EC3Europol) April 12, 2022
RaidForums – Biggest Hacker Community
“RaidForums has grown into one of the biggest hacker communities online where hacking advice and stolen data were often exchanged,” the NCA added.
The site included data from some of the most high-profile hacking instances in recent years, and the victims were typically exposed to other crimes like fraud.
Over half a million people were a part of the RaidForums community when it first launched in 2015. This market was notorious for providing access to advanced database breaches from global corporations.
More than a million credit cards, bank account numbers, and routing information were found in some databases. Hence it also included the login and password for online accounts.
However, Data breaches and other flaws used by hackers and hacking groups frequently yielded these databases.
Police Investigation to Solve this Mystery!
The police investigation was headed by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. Law enforcement agencies supported it in the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Portugal, and Romania.
A mutual cyber action team (J-CAT) headed by Europol worked closely with partners to identify important targets and build a plan for the final phase of the investigation.
Because of their tight working relationship, the investigators at RaidForums could distinguish between the many players in the marketplace. Such as the administrator, the money launderers, the data thieves and uploaders, and the purchasers.
European Cybercrime Centre Chief Edvardas Ileris said: “Disturbance has long been a vital approach in acting against malicious online attackers.” Therefore targeting forums that house significant volumes of stolen material keeps criminals on their toes. Subsequently, to make cybercrime more difficult – and riskier – Europol will continue to engage with its international partners.
According to law enforcement officials engaged in its preparation, an entire year of planning ended in executing the sting operation on RaidForums.
Hence, an international team of investigators led by Europol and six countries’ police services has been involved in the inquiry.
