Thought Leadership
“Crimenetwork” is the largest German-language online marketplace for illegal goods and services. One of the alleged technical heads of the platform is now in custody.
Investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Public Prosecutor General’s Office in Frankfurt am Main have arrested a suspected administrator of the criminal trading platform “Crimenetwork”. According to the BKA, the platform was the largest German-language online marketplace for illegal goods and services. Investigators were also able to shut down the platform’s servers.
The 29-year-old is accused of having been the technical administrator of the platform for many years. Following his arrest on Monday, he was brought before a magistrate and is now in custody. In addition to extensive evidence and high-value vehicles, assets worth around one million euros in crypto assets were also seized.
BKA assumes 100,000 users
“Crimenetwork” served as a marketplace for illegal goods and services, in particular for stolen data, drugs and forged documents, the investigators announced. At last count, more than 100,000 users and over 100 sellers were registered on the platform. Most of the platform’s customers are believed to be located in German-speaking countries. Users used the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Monero to pay for illegal goods and services.
The platform operators are said to have received commission payments of one to five percent of the sales value for processing the sales made. In addition, the sellers are said to have paid monthly fees to the platform operators, for example for advertising and for their sales licenses. According to the BKA, the investigations were supported by Dutch law enforcement authorities.
dpa
