[Oni]

Heard about Alphabay reopening a while back. Potential sting?

Just over four years ago, the US Department of Justice announced the takedown of AlphaBay, the biggest dark web market bust in history. Thai police arrested the site's 26-year-old administrator, Alexandre Cazes, in Bangkok, and the FBI seized AlphaBay's central server in Lithuania, wiping out a marketplace that was selling hundreds of millions of dollars a year worth of hard drugs, hacked data, and other contraband to its 400,000-plus registered users. The FBI called the disruption of the site a “landmark operation.”

But the fate of one key player in that massive black market scheme was never explained: AlphaBay's former number-two administrator, security specialist, and self-described cofounder, who went by the name DeSnake. Now, four years after his market's demise, DeSnake appears to be back online and has relaunched AlphaBay under his own singular leadership. After four years off the radar, he's not keeping quiet about his return.

In an extended chat interview, DeSnake tells WIRED how he walked away unscathed from the takedown of AlphaBay, why he has resurfaced now, and what his plans are for the resurrected, once-dominant online black market. He communicated with WIRED via encrypted text messages, from a frequently changing series of pseudonymous accounts, after proving his identity by signing a public message with DeSnake's original PGP key, which multiple security researchers verified.

Read More: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021...-hes-back/

[ManakaJunpei]

This interview sounds so unbelievably sketchy or just delusional, I'm not sure whether to take this serious or not, it's a 50/50 for me of it being the feds.

[laininthewired]

Here is a post from Desnake on Dread regarding his new feature of protected wallets and his interview with wired.


Here is a copy of the feature list posted by him too.
https://pastebin.com/rJ1Gq7q4

Here are the Market rules.


Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about this, and so do many DNM users. Desnakes promise to make alphabay a much safer and more decentralized market seems a bit shaky after the death of his friend. Despite many vendors and users flocking over to join the market (especially after Desnake offered free vendor bonds for those affected by the Televend compromise), many still call it a honeypot.

I can't tell people what to do, but I would stay far away from this market myself.

[Oni]

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about this, and so do many DNM users. Desnakes promise to make alphabay a much safer and more decentralized market seems a bit shaky after the death of his friend. Despite many vendors and users flocking over to join the market (especially after Desnake offered free vendor bonds for those affected by the Televend compromise), many still call it a honeypot.

I can't tell people what to do, but I would stay far away from this market myself.

No doubt he could have retired in the Caymans if he wanted. It's a move of desperation, no matter how you look at it. Whether he wants people to return for money or because he was facing the possibility of life without parole. I am not certain, so I won't call foul. If it gets shut down in 3-5 years, I won't be surprised.

[2ndround]

I mean he has the word snake in his username so wouldnt count on him being loyal.
Not checked this at the time of writing, but new iterations of old sites don't have to be sting but can simply be the creation of an opportunist pretending and using the brand name of a legacy site for their own gain.

[TheRealInterMafia]

It's not been that long but someone a friend of a friend knows, "SWIM", has used the alphabay on multiple occasions with no issue and has only seen growth.

If this is a honeypot, it's a very good one.

[2ndround]

It's not been that long but someone a friend of a friend knows, "SWIM", has used the alphabay on multiple occasions with no issue and has only seen growth.

If this is a honeypot, it's a very good one.

do they sell similar things to what they had before?
every website discussing illegal activities can be a honeypot or at least contain a mole.

[TheRealInterMafia]

It's not been that long but someone a friend of a friend knows, "SWIM", has used the alphabay on multiple occasions with no issue and has only seen growth.

If this is a honeypot, it's a very good one.

do they sell similar things to what they had before?
every website discussing illegal activities can be a honeypot or at least contain a mole.

I think it goes without saying that there are going to be LE sniffing around any marketplace/forum/online community, this one included, but as far as it goes for the customer, there's rarely an issue unless you're trying to move large amounts of Jehovah knows what for distro - and even then, you're more likely to get caught in your own dedicated sting than one targeting a marketplace.

That friend of a friend, SWIM tells me that it's still the same old stuff on alphabay, run of the mill, no different than any other market. There's apparently vendors using alphabay that also use more 'reputable' markets so take that as you will. Obviously no weapons/illegal wank banks (nicely enough). But yeah, really your biggest potential threat on something like that is an exit scam.

[2ndround]

It's not been that long but someone a friend of a friend knows, "SWIM", has used the alphabay on multiple occasions with no issue and has only seen growth.

If this is a honeypot, it's a very good one.

do they sell similar things to what they had before?
every website discussing illegal activities can be a honeypot or at least contain a mole.

I think it goes without saying that there are going to be LE sniffing around any marketplace/forum/online community, this one included, but as far as it goes for the customer, there's rarely an issue unless you're trying to move large amounts of Jehovah knows what for distro - and even then, you're more likely to get caught in your own dedicated sting than one targeting a marketplace.

That friend of a friend, SWIM tells me that it's still the same old stuff on alphabay, run of the mill, no different than any other market. There's apparently vendors using alphabay that also use more 'reputable' markets so take that as you will. Obviously no weapons/illegal wank banks (nicely enough). But yeah, really your biggest potential threat on something like that is an exit scam.

Had a look around and it seems that still some of the same vendors are in business and back on the site.

Read an article saying that their changes in policy was one reason to be suspicious.
They used to sell fenny and guns but now they dont...
At that time fenny wasnt as well known, under such heat and killing staggering amounts of people every day.
They want to be in operation and make money, not bring unnecessary heat on themselves.
Its the same as other dnms who decided a long time ago not to sell guns.
Seeing as there have been changes in who manages the site, it would not be suprising they have a change in policy.

[Oni]

do they sell similar things to what they had before?
every website discussing illegal activities can be a honeypot or at least contain a mole.

I think it goes without saying that there are going to be LE sniffing around any marketplace/forum/online community, this one included, but as far as it goes for the customer, there's rarely an issue unless you're trying to move large amounts of Jehovah knows what for distro - and even then, you're more likely to get caught in your own dedicated sting than one targeting a marketplace.

That friend of a friend, SWIM tells me that it's still the same old stuff on alphabay, run of the mill, no different than any other market. There's apparently vendors using alphabay that also use more 'reputable' markets so take that as you will. Obviously no weapons/illegal wank banks (nicely enough). But yeah, really your biggest potential threat on something like that is an exit scam.

Had a look around and it seems that still some of the same vendors are in business and back on the site.

Read an article saying that their changes in policy was one reason to be suspicious.
They used to sell fenny and guns but now they dont...
At that time fenny wasnt as well known, under such heat and killing staggering amounts of people every day.
They want to be in operation and make money, not bring unnecessary heat on themselves.
Its the same as other dnms who decided a long time ago not to sell guns.
Seeing as there have been changes in who manages the site, it would not be suprising they have a change in policy.

Not sure about other countries, but the US in particular has been targeting fetanyl (both media/LE). It's kind of a phenomenon, because at safe doses it's no different than the other opiates people are prescribed legally.