At the beginning of last week, we mentioned that the Genesis Market site liquidated in April continues to successfully function in the darknet. At the same time, both researchers and law enforcement officers still note a strong decline in online excitement after closing the public version of Genesis Market.
The whole point is that the criminals do not dare to use the Darknnet version of the site due to fears that it is still controlled by the FBI and everything that happens is just a big bluff.
In the first few days after the FBI raid, known as the operation “Cookie Monster”, one of the Genesis Market operators tried to dispel users’ fears, claiming that the FBI confiscated only open webommen, and the darknet version of the markete is still anonymous and Safe.
However, it is so easy not to get rid of doubts. Moreover, the account of this operator later blocked the forum administration, where he assured to continue the use of Genesis Market. It is possible that this was a kind of bait of law enforcement officers.
While the future of Genesis Market is still doubtful and vaguely, its main competitor, the Russian Market, actually froze, said Alexander Lesley, a cybercrime specialist in Recorded Future.
as for the Russian Market, we noticed the immediate stop of the daily placement of new recordings of the info -suppliers, starting on April 4, 2023. The question immediately arose of whether the responsible for deliveries to the Russian Market and Genesis Market was arrested as part of the operation ” Cookie Monster. “Although it is possible that Russian Market himself stopped posting new data as a precaution,” added Leslie.
It is reported that a week later the listing of stolen data on the Russian Market still resumed.
regarding the other competitor Genesis Market called 2EASY SHOP, Leslie said that the influence on him was “slightly more opaque”, because for several months, until the end of 2022, rumors were rumored that this was a davo site. Nevertheless, confidence in 2EASY SHOP gradually appeared in criminals. However, this market did not demonstrate a significant increase in activity after the operation “Cookie Monster”, unlike the same Russian Market.
His administrators worked hard to create a reputation and popularity at a number of the most important dark web forums and even created their own Telegram channel, but “doubts about the administration team began to creep,” she said, because of their suspicious behavior.
“I want to draw a parallel. After the Hydra Market was destroyed last year, it took about six months to recover the market. I think that we see a similar movement here,” said Andrash Toy Chifra, senior analyst Flashpoint.