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A global team worked together and took down a huge dark web network that was spreading child sexual abuse material. They made arrests and seized evidence.
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Investigators tracked the alleged administrator by following his complicated cryptocurrency transactions across several websites and wallets.
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This network had a very wide reach — more than 350,000 people used it, and the illegal content racked up almost 900,000 paid views.
A lot of criminal takedowns happening recently are making everyone realise that crypto isn’t really untraceable.
In a major global operation, authorities from the US, Germany, and Brazil teamed up to take down a huge dark web network. This network used to be a lair for bad actors who distribute child abuse materials.
Following the Digital Money Trail
The breakthrough came from tracking the money. The supposed gang leader who ran things is a Peruvian living in Brazil. He felt that using a bunch of fake names, crypto mixers, and a couple of wallets to hide his tracks would keep him safe.
But all that was not enough to keep him under the radar. Investigators from TRM Labs, working with Brazilian police, performed deep on-chain analysis. They found the common links.
All the websites, with names like Videos Yad and Videos Sebick, shared a hidden blockchain infrastructure. The money always led back to the same person.
This digital trail was the key. It connected the dots after years of the network’s uninterrupted activity.
A Network Exposed and Dismantled
There was a lot of evidence. Brazilian Federal Police arrested the alleged administrator on September 2.
They found CSAM content in his possession during a search. Meanwhile, German authorities moved in.
Cops grabbed the servers that ran the two main illegal sites. Now, if you go there, you’ll just see a notice from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office saying they took over.
This network was huge. Two of its platforms had over 350,000 users worldwide.
The paid areas had over 21,000 videos, roughly 660 hours of awful stuff, and people watched them almost 900,000 times.
Some memberships were super cheap, like $10 (a stark contrast to the soaring prices for other illicit goods on the dark web, such as stolen Korean credit cards). The free samples were used to lure in new users. This network caused immense harm, but now it’s offline.
The Fight Against CSAM Actors Becomes More Serious
This latest takedown is a really big win, but the fight isn’t yet over; it’s only gotten more intense. It’s part of a growing trend of global dark web stings, similar to the recent operation that brought down a UK dealer with prosthetic hands. These CSAM actors are always changing their game. Lately, they’ve been running back to the dark web to find a safer, more secret spot, away from takedowns on the regular internet.
Plus, they’re using AI more and more to make and spread super realistic fake CSAM content, which makes finding it way harder. The Internet Watch Foundation put out a report saying they found thousands of these AI-made images on just one dark web forum.
Moreover, even though dark web scams are going down a bit, we’re seeing a jump in CSAM scams on social media. But here’s the thing that still gets these criminals: their financial activity happens on the blockchain.
Like this big sting operation showed, tracing crypto is still a super useful trick. Cops all over the world are using it to find these perpetrators, watch where the money’s going, and catch the bad guys. It sends a clear message: whatever you’re doing online doesn’t go unnoticed, and you won’t get away with it.
