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World's Authorities Shut Down Internet's Largest 'Dark Market'

AlphaBay was billed as an anonymous way for buyers and sellers to interact. It used the Tor network designed to encrypt user information.

By: Ryan Biek

Posted at 3:17 PM, Jul 20, 2017

and last updated 2017-07-20 15:17:15-04

The Justice Department said Thursday the internet's largest "dark market" has been shut down.

AlphaBay was billed as an anonymous way for buyers and sellers to interact. It used the "Tor" network designed to encrypt user information.

When the site was seized in early July, it had over 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals. It also had more than 100,000 listings for guns, false IDs, malware and counterfeit goods.

In addition to seizing AlphaBay's servers, authorities arrested and charged a network administrator earlier this month. He was later found dead in his cell; officials said it was an apparent suicide.

To take down the network, the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration worked with European law enforcement agency Europol, as well as others in Canada, Thailand, the Netherlands, Lithuania, France and the U.K.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: "The 'dark net' is not a place to hide. We will use every tool we have to stop criminals from exploiting vulnerable people and sending so many Americans to an early grave."