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Warning: This story accommodates delicate content material that some readers could discover disturbing.
A Dutch nationwide often called ‘Mr Darkish’ — who allegedy made $1.6 million in cryptocurrency from internet hosting violent rape and youngster pornography movies — has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury within the District of Columbia.
Michael Rahim Mohammed, 32, allegedly operated the ‘Darkish Scandals’ web site, which has operated on each the darknet and the conventional net since 2012.
The location hosted greater than 2000 movies and pictures, and marketed that it provided “actual blackmail, rape and compelled movies of women all world wide.”
Customers might pay for the unlawful content material — delivered in e mail ‘packs’ for obtain — with Bitcoin or Ethereum, or by importing their very own movies to the content material library. In whole the location obtained 1650 deposits of cryptocurrency, together with 188 Bitcoin and 26.7 Ether.
Website guidelines prohibited faux sexual violence
The location’s guidelines prohbited “faux, novice…or acted motion pictures”, insisted on “actual rape/compelled content material”, and acknowledged a desire for “personal made materials.”
However whereas cryptocurrency helped fund the location, it additionally recorded the small print of the crime on the blockchain.
Regulation enforcement companies have been in a position to observe 303 Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts that paid cryptocurrency to the location utilizing Chainalysis transaction tracing software program. A forfeiture grievance seeks to get well the funds and provides the proceeds to the victims.
The grievance notes many accounts have been opened purely for the one transaction and had incomplete KYC verification. However the evaluation helped determine different illicit transactions too:
“Regulation enforcement noticed quite a few funds from these accounts to different darknet markets, which have been flagged by blockchain analytics corporations, enabling regulation enforcement to determine illicit transactions.”
Darknet now not so darkish
The location was introduced down after a world investigation was launched together with US investigators, the Dutch Nationwide Police, Europol, and the German Federal Felony Police.
Michael Rahim Mohammed has been charged with distribution of kid pornography, manufacturing and transportation of obscene issues on the market or distribution, participating within the enterprise of promoting or transferring obscene matter, and laundering of financial devices.
Chief Don Fort of IRS Felony Investigation stated the case ought to function a warning to different criminals that officers can shine a light-weight on the darknet:
“Criminals ought to know in the event you depart a digital footprint, we are going to discover you. In the event you exploit our kids, we are going to put you behind bars. In the event you thought you have been nameless, suppose once more. The darkish net just isn’t fairly as darkish at present because of the laborious work of IRS-CI and our companion companies.”
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