German law enforcement has seized over 50 servers that hosted the Manson Market cybercrime marketplace and fake online shops used in phishing operations.
Two main suspects (currently in pretrial detention) believed to be Manson Market’s operators have been arrested in Germany and Austria under European arrest warrants on Wednesday in an operation led by the cybercrime departments of the Verden Public Prosecutor’s Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Verden) and the Hanover Police Department (Polizeidirektion Hannover).
“The investigation began in the autumn of 2022, following reports of fraudulent phone calls in which scammers impersonated bank employees to extract sensitive information, such as addresses and security answers, from victims,” Europol said today.
“The stolen data was traced back to a specialised online marketplace that operated as a central hub for the trade of illegally obtained information.”
In coordinated search raids across Europe with police authorities from Austria, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, and Europol forces, the investigation team seized 50 servers and over 200 terabytes of documents containing evidence linked to the thousands of users and sellers active on the fraud marketplace.
“All transactions, communications, and user information associated with this site are now in the custody of law enforcement,” the seizure banner displayed on the marketplace’s seized domain (manson-market[.]pw) warns.
“If you have engaged in any illegal activity, you are under investigation. Criminals are neither anonymous nor safe! Justice is coming…”
Investigators found buyers using the platform could purchase packages of stolen credentials, payment data, and personal information customized using region and account balance filters for targeted fraudulent activities. Around 57 victims have suffered losses exceeding 250,000 euros due to stolen online banking and credit card information sold on the market and used for fraud.
They also found a complex network of fake online shops used to steal their visitors’ victims’ banking details and personal information and discovered that over 63,000 stolen records were sold on the Manson Market cybercrime marketplace.
On Monday, German authorities took down “Crimenetwork,” the largest online cybercrime marketplace in the country, and arrested its administrator for facilitating the sale of drugs, stolen data, and illegal services like document forging.
Between 2018 and 2024, transactions on the platform reached over 1,000 Bitcoin and over 20,000 Monero, currently valued at roughly €93 million (approximately $98 million), with the market’s operators getting a 5% cut and making profits of at least $5 million.
In recent months, German law enforcement also seized 47 cryptocurrency exchange services and the Dstat.cc DDoS review platform hosted in the country.