Global law enforcement shuts down Genesis Market
Genesis Market, a website that sold digital data to fraudsters, has been shut down by law enforcement in a raid that results in the arrest of 120 individuals and 200 searches.
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In total, there have so far been around 120 arrests, over 200 searches and close to 100 pieces of preventative activity carried out across the globe in recent days. (UK National Crime Agency)
Genesis Market, which is considered one of the largest cybercrime markets in the world for digital data purchases, also dubbed "an enormous enabler of fraud," has been caught and shut down by global law enforcement.
CBC reported that Genesis Market sold the "digital fingerprints" of victims, including their IP addresses and login information. This information, which in total compiled about 80 million sets of digital data, which mostly sold at less than $1, allowed thieves to access bank and shopping accounts.
Global law enforcement organizations conducted a series of raids and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested 24 people who are allegedly some of the website's clientele. Among those detained, there were two men, one aged 34 and the other 36, who have been detained in Grimsby, Lincolnshire on suspicion of fraud and misuse of computers."
Twenty-four people who are alleged site users were also detained by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) during a series of raids. The detained include two men, aged 34 and 36, who are being held in Grimsby, Lincolnshire on "suspicion of fraud and computer misuse."
In short, the raids were launched at dawn on Tuesday by law enforcement agencies from about 17 different countries, including the NCA in the UK, the Australian Federal Police, the FBI, the Dutch National Police, and agencies from throughout Europe.
In total, 120 individuals were detained and 200 searches were carried out globally. It is worth noting that anyone that visited the Genesis website the day after could read the notice "Operation Cookie Monster. This website has been seized."
Robert Jones, director general of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA said "For too long criminals have stolen credentials from innocent members of the public," adding, "We now want criminals to be afraid that we have their credentials, and they should be."
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