HSI wants to bring order to the Darknet

The “Dark Web” - a collection of websites accessible through the anonymous Tor browser - is considered the place to buy everything, thanks to the popularity of The Silk Road store. Even though online drug and gun sales make up only a fraction of the global total, law enforcement agencies around the world are stepping up efforts to crack down on such businesses.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of 35 people who face charges of selling “illegal goods”, as well as the seizure of weapons, drugs and cryptocurrency worth $23.6 million. The arrests were the culmination of a years-long, coordinated national operation that used undercover agents to identify sellers of illicit goods on the Dark Web.

In a press release, the Justice Department explained that the undercover agents were posing as money launderers looking to buy cryptocurrency with U.S. dollars. The agents then found out exactly where the money was being sent, which led to mass arrests of those suspected of trading on the dark web. Since the advent of Tor, agents have masqueraded as criminals. This is the feds' favorite way to stop illegal sales. According to the information, investigators previously tried to negotiate the collection of customer information with the administrators of dark web stores, but the result did not live up to expectations.

“The Darknet is constantly changing and becoming more confusing and complex. This makes it difficult to find individuals conducting illegal activities on Internet platforms. In this case, special agents were able to detect criminals who were making a profit by selling drugs that are extremely addictive for cryptocurrency,” said the acting director of the National Security Agency's Bureau of Investigation (HSI). 

“The ice has broken, HSI has penetrated the dark web and, together with law enforcement agencies across the country, has once again proven that every criminal is within the reach of the law.”

According to bgr.com