Dark Web Sites AlphaBay and Hansa Shut Down in Operations by FBI, DEA, Dutch Police

AlphaBay and Hansa, two of the top three dark web criminal marketplaces trading more than 350,000 commodities such as drugs, firearms and malware combined, were shut down by two major law enforcement operations led by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Dutch National Police, Europol, which supported the operations, said in a Thursday news release. AlphaBay, which had more than 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors, is considered the largest illegal online market with 100,000-plus listings for stolen and fraudulent identity documents and access devices, malware and computer hacking tools and other illicit services and goods, the release said. The FBI and DEA shut down the site July 7 and arrested its creator and administrator, a Canadian citizen living in Thailand, the release said. No. 3-ranked Hansa was taken over June 20 by Dutch police, who covertly monitored criminal activities until the site was closed Thursday, Europol said. About "10,000 foreign addresses" of buyers were passed on to Europol, it added.