Dark Web Drug Marketplace Fueled by Crypto Goes Offline
- Empire Market among biggest English-language dark web markets
- Site likely closed due to police or ‘exit scam,’ experts say
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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A popular dark net marketplace for buying and selling drugs has been offline for three days, fueling speculation about its fate and despair among some users.
Empire Market, similar to the infamous Silk Road site shut down by law enforcement in October 2013, had become of the most trafficked illicit online marketplaces in recent years, following the demise of other sites such as AlphaBay and Hansa. In addition to selling drugs, Empire Market offered fake documentation like passports and drivers’ licenses and off-the-shelf malware.