For journalists, intelligence agents, and everyday citizens living in oppressive regimes, the dark web is a critical tool for supporting free speech and open access to news. Unfortunately, this same benefit is also useful for criminals, who routinely leverage the dark web to peddle illegal or stolen goods, obtain malware or other malicious tools, and coordinate their nefarious activities. TRM Labs reports that both its clearnet mirror and hidden-service infrastructure became inaccessible, and the site’s operator, known only as “Vito,” vanished along with users’ escrowed funds. A dark web search engine like DuckDuckGo offers impressive anonymity features and makes it easy to access the shops.
Now that you understand what the dark web is all about, you might wonder why other people do things on it. Darknet marketplaces like to exist on the dark web because it offers a service that the regular internet, or more accurately, the “surface web,” does not. The dark web is a hidden section of the internet that you cannot reach with common search engines like Bing or Google. The only way in is through the use of special software that renders all users anonymous and untraceable. It added that many fraud shops are increasingly offering third-party crypto-payment processors like UAPS via API calls, as a way to reduce their own costs, improve operational efficiency and increase security. However, overall the sector has fragmented somewhat from the days when Silk Road, AlphaBay, Wall Street Market and Hydra ruled the roost.
A Look At The Dark Web Marketplace Takedowns In 2023 (Plus, What Does It Mean For Your Cybersecurity Strategy?)
The average cost of credit card information varies from $10 (in countries such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia) to $240 each (with a card balance). New websites and forums were created nearly overnight and very quickly filled the gap left by the sites taken down by authorities. This, however, did little to reduce the supply of illicit goods and services on the dark web. We can only hope that the current largest and oldest markets will retire with honor. At Electro IQ, Our platform is dedicated to providing detailed, well-researched statistics, facts, charts, and graphs, all verified by industry experts. Our aim is to make the complexities of technological innovations and scientific discoveries easy to understand through clear and comprehensive information.
Cyprus Airways Data Breach: Hackers Claim Access To Real-Time Systems And Passenger Records
So far, five million people have used the tool, and over 13,000 victims have been notified that their computer was infected, and received instructions to help them make their device safe again. BriansClub remains a long-standing credit card data shop since at least 2014. Despite a 2019 breach that exposed over 26 million credit cards, it continues to operate, indicating sustained trust in its data pipelines.
Law Enforcement Action Had Little Effect On Supply And Prices
These are the most expensive items on the Dark Web markets by a long shot. Prices are, however, expected to fall in case of a new cryptocurrency upturn, as this would lead to increased interest and hype from the general public. The most common type of account details for sale on the Dark Web are PayPal accounts. As the Dark Web market evolves, its operators adopt strategies and priorities similar to those of traditional marketing and retail businesses. Had already amassed $12.15 million in sales by the end of its first month in operation (April 2022). As of this publishing, Mega currently appears to be the biggest of the five Russian language DNMs.
Malware Sales
They use pseudonymous wallets, privacy coins (like Monero), mixers, chain-hopping, and non-KYC platforms to obscure transaction trails. Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools. With a foundation in financial day trading, I transitioned to my current role as an editor, where I prioritize accuracy and reader engagement in our content.
Cybersecurity Employment: Making Sense Of Conflicting Messaging
According to Statista, the following are the highest mean daily numbers of Tor network users with direct connections between June and September 2023. While some may find it intriguing to explore, it’s important to avoid visiting the dark web. Let’s delve deeper into the meaning of the dark web through recent Dark Web Statistics.
During our tests for the research, we were able to register with a bogus email and a random username. All that one can expect from a deep web marketplace when it comes to anonymity and security. Fresh Tools Market has become a go-to platform for cybercriminals seeking access to malicious software such as keyloggers, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), and ransomware-as-a-service.
Collecting Threat Intelligence
Criminals can use this data to impersonate people on the internet and even open online accounts in their names. Prices of hacked cryptocurrency accounts still remain overall the highest among all hacked online accounts. This indicates that hacking such accounts still remains extremely profitable. As in the previous 3 years, we conducted research into the supply and prices of various goods and services sold by cybercriminals on the dark web.
Sustained law enforcement pressure has stymied marketplaces’ development, curtailed innovation and increasingly driven users toward independent vendor shops and encrypted communication platforms like Telegram. In early July, 2025, Abacus Market, the largest Bitcoin-enabled Western darknet marketplace (DNM), went offline, rendering all internet-facing infrastructure, including its clearnet mirror, inaccessible. TRM Labs assesses that the marketplace’s operators have likely conducted an exit scam, shutting down operations and disappearing with users’ funds. TRM’s research further documents how darknet operators attempt to stay ahead of law enforcement through pseudonymous domain registration, rapid rebranding after takedowns, and the laundering of proceeds through high-risk exchanges. That case, like Archetyp, demonstrates how darknet infrastructure is often transnational, technically sophisticated, and deeply intertwined with the global financial system. The Archetyp Market takedown comes at a time of continued growth and transformation in the digital drug trade.
- This part of the web isn’t accessible by traditional search engines, and so isn’t picked up by web crawlers.
- To access pages and information within the deep web, users require the correct authorisation and credentials.
- While some companies do offer this service, be aware the results are always incomplete, because there are many private forums and sites that simply cannot be discovered or indexed by a scanner.
- The anonymity and lack of rules that define darknet marketplaces are exactly what make them breeding grounds for fraudulent activities.
- In the first 24 hours of launching Check your hack, two million people took advantage of the service.
More importantly, the darknet is a safe haven for people from countries with oppressive regimes, as it allows them to securely send and receive information and access content that is unavailable where they live. As its contents are unindexed, it’s impossible to determine the Dark Web’s exact size. However, experts estimate it accounts for no more than 5% of the internet. In fact, the Dark Web is a small subset of a much larger Deep Web — a part of the internet containing all the pages hidden from search engines for privacy and security reasons. Meanwhile, the visible part of the internet all users can access is known as the Surface Web, and it hosts an estimated 19 terabytes of data.
It is a specific Debian-based version of Linux software that leaves no traces of the user activity or the operating system on the computer. It uses the Tor network because it is a popular network that helps to circumvent censorship and online surveillance. Using a dark web search engine is a great step towards enjoying a more secure experience while shopping on the platform. Not all marketplaces you want to visit can be accessed through regular search engines. In addition, mainstream search engines also track your searches and collect personal information.
Screen shot from Dread dark web forum advising users of ViceCity exit scam. In 2023 the dark web has over 2.5 million daily visitors, and it’s estimated that more than half of those visitors have participated in illegal activities. What’s even more alarming is that in April 2023, daily dark web visitors rose by 200,000 to reach 2.7 million. Despite using a VPN, there’s always a risk of the VPN leaking your IP address through DNS or WebRTC leaks or misconfigurations when on a dark web forum or marketplace. Therefore, you must run an IP leak test to ensure that the VPN is working completely fine and is not risking your digital security.
This marketplace focuses on selling stolen financial data, such as BINs (Bank Identification Numbers), RDP/VDS access, and verified crypto accounts for money laundering. The market is also known for its listings related to financial fraud, such as phishing tools and stolen credit card information. Markets like Perico represent the next wave — safer for vendors, harder for law enforcement to trace, and accessible only to privacy-savvy users. For cybersecurity professionals, journalists, and policymakers, understanding how these systems evolve is crucial to monitoring and mitigating the impact of underground economies. Darknet markets, or cryptomarkets, are online marketplaces that operate on anonymity networks like Tor or I2P and use cryptocurrencies for transactions — typically involving illegal or gray-market goods and services.
