“This research was done pre-COVID but what we’ve been seeing now is a lifting of all boats as buyers seek alternative means of supply. A small stealth package posted home becomes an easy option. “Market operators and vendors are keenly aware of the risks and adapt accordingly. The report says a further takedown of a large market, Berlusconi, an Italian based darknet market that had grown significantly in response to other market closures, was followed by a significant decrease in overall opioid listings. In April 2019 they found three new markets – Agartha, Dream Alt and Samsara – were added after Wall Street and Valhalla were seized by law enforcement and Dream voluntarily closed.
Lawyers Call For Police Involved In Kumanjayi White’s Death To Be Suspended
The marketplace’s administrator, known as ‘Vito’, responded on darkweb discussion forum Dread, claiming an influx of Archetyp users and a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack were the reasons for the issues. The Australian darknet research is a study that was conducted by the Australian Crime Commission. It also looked at the links between darknet markets and illicit substances, as well as other illegal activities.
Overall, dark-web marketplaces in 2025 are more sophisticated, secure, and resilient than ever before, evolving rapidly in response to both technological advancements and intensified scrutiny from global law enforcement agencies. Transactions within these marketplaces typically leverage cryptocurrencies—most commonly Monero, Bitcoin, and privacy-centric digital currencies developed specifically to enhance transaction anonymity. Monero, in particular, has become the preferred cryptocurrency on the dark web in 2025 due to its advanced privacy mechanisms, which obscure transaction histories and wallet balances from public view. Abacus becoming the largest Bitcoin-enabled Western DNM may have inadvertently led to its closure. Marketplaces that reach the top of the ecosystem, in terms of volume, user base, listings, and reputation, often become priority targets for law enforcement.
- Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools.
- The researchers tracked trends to measure changes in the price and availability of opioids, and the numbers of vendors or dealers selling them.
- Although using darknets like TOR isn’t illegal in Australia, it can raise suspicion.
- However, when law enforcement subsequently shutdown Wall Street – a market which accounted for the majority of fentanyl listings - it also resulted in vendors moving elsewhere to list their products.
- Various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Monero can be used to make purchases.
Darknet Takedowns Disrupt Drugs Markets
Forty percent of the peers around the globe are in Australia, the US, Russia, France, England, and Canada. I2P is another decentralized peer-to-peer network using end-to-end encryption for your traffic. Its end-to-end encryption protects the endpoints of your data route by changing them into cryptographic identifiers with public keys. It also uses uni-directional tunnels to separate incoming and outgoing traffic. It is a version of Firefox preconfigured to provide access to the TOR network.
FAQ – Dark Web Markets 2025 And Cybersecurity
Apart from the dark web markets that are operating online today, some raided platforms influenced many markets. Active for a decade since 2014, it is a widely used credit card shop used to source stolen credit card information such as dumps, CVVs, Wholesale Accounts. Security researchers have been monitoring forums within the cybercriminal underworld to investigate the leading markets operating in 2024.
🛡️ How Axis Intelligence Strengthens Cybersecurity
The researchers tracked trends to measure changes in the price and availability of opioids, and the numbers of vendors or dealers selling them. “The markets response to law enforcement can be seen to be like the game whack-a-mole, with markets popping up somewhere else if one is closed down. And when they pop up again, they are reshaped. “Also, we know that drugs sold on the dark net tend to be better quality and less adulterated than drugs that are traded on the street as well.” Dr Martin says darknet trading is very difficult to police, but it’s not all bad news for law enforcement. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has executed a series of search warrants across Brisbane and the Gold Coast over two days in connection to the shutdown of DarkMarket, the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web.
Although dark-web marketplaces utilize technologies like Tor and I2P to enhance anonymity, these methods are not foolproof. Law enforcement agencies continuously improve their ability to trace transactions and monitor marketplace activity. Simple mistakes—such as inadequate operational security practices, sharing identifiable details, or using compromised devices—can quickly compromise anonymity and expose users’ real-world identities. Dark-web marketplaces attract sophisticated cybercriminals adept at launching phishing scams, malware attacks, or ransomware threats.
What’s Life Like If You’re Constantly Avoiding Police?
These technologies obscure users’ identities and locations by routing their internet traffic through multiple volunteer-operated servers worldwide, making it extremely difficult to trace activities back to individuals. Tor remains the most prevalent method due to its ease of use and robust anonymity features, but the popularity of I2P is steadily growing due to its increased resistance to surveillance and censorship. While not based in Australia, Abacus Market gained strong traction with local darknet users by embracing cultural references, supporting Australian vendors, and featuring a dedicated moderator from the region. These efforts helped it become one of the most active platforms among Australian users.
Search Our Site
Often portrayed as the internet’s shadowy underbelly, the Dark Web hosts marketplaces offering everything from privacy tools and digital currencies to more questionable, or outright illegal, products and services. Significant technological innovations and trends have reshaped dark-web marketplaces over recent years. In 2025, many platforms have adopted decentralized architectures, reducing single points of failure that previously made them vulnerable to law enforcement takedowns. German police last week arrested a 34-year-old Australian national accused of operating DarkMarket, which was selling drugs, counterfeit cash, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware. Officers shut down DarkMarket’s servers and criminal infrastructure, which were operating in Germany. Tor2door’s been a standout since 2020—over 20,000 listings and a custom-built site that’s not some cookie-cutter junk.
Latest Posts
Daily deposits dropped by over 90% in the final weeks, despite reassurances from its administrator. This behavior was consistent with known exit scam patterns seen across other darknet markets. Australians are increasingly using eBay-style darknet marketplaces or cryptomarkets to buy and sell illicit drugs. Of those that seemed active, well over half appeared illicit, hosting a widely diverse set of criminal activities including selling illegally obtained prescription medicines. Globally, police seized over 41 million USD in cash and cryptocurrencies, 45 firearms, and 234 kilograms of drugs. The arrest of 150 vendors and buyers largely occurred in the US, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, France, Germany, and Italy.
Torzon Market
For cybersecurity professionals, focusing on payment methods, vendor migration, and marketplace specialisation offers the most effective path to actionable intelligence. In 2025, darknet marketplaces primarily accept Monero (XMR) and Bitcoin (BTC). Privacy-focused operators are shifting to Monero due to its default anonymity, compared to Bitcoin’s transparent ledger Darknet markets see BTC inflow drop to $2B. Darknet marketplaces remain central to illicit trade in 2025, with evolving business models, payment systems, and law enforcement responses. This survey highlights active and recently shuttered markets with actionable metrics and intelligence for threat hunters, CISOs, and red team leaders. Freshtools is a unique marketplace in that it does not only provide the stolen data, but it allows criminals to purchase MaaS which can cause further damage to the victims.
Vendors use a variety of cases or labels to make the product look like something else. Some use DVD cases, hollow books, torch battery compartments, and other creative methods to hide or “stealth” their products. Meanwhile, Canberra had the second-highest average consumption of fentanyl and oxycodone.
This can be true even if you want to use it for legal purposes only while remaining anonymous. If anonymity and security are the purposes, most Australians don’t need to use darknets or dark networks to do the job. While drug checking services have been operating around the world for over 50 years, Barratt said Australia remained resistant to expanding the harm-reduction service. “Drug checking is a precautionary and pragmatic response to the health risks of unpredictable drug markets, often detecting hazardous substances before they flood the local market,” she said.
If they eventually get caught there’s nothing stopping their partner taking the art off the wall, selling it and walking away with the money. They would fit the typical criminal profile for any crime anywhere else on the planet. Imagine we planned to hatch a plot to take down an Australian politician and we want to buy some cybercrime tools. The IP numbers of people on the darknet don’t make sense and you don’t even know they’re connected. In the darknet, nothing is recorded on the PC; there are no log files written of any chat. Darknet means that you cannot see it; it doesn’t mean that dark things happen there.
ANU has a huge variety of support services, programs and activities to enhance your student experience. Your donation will make a real difference to our community of researchers and students. Fill out the form to speak with our team about investigative professional services.
