You probably haven’t heard about the White House Market. Google does not find it. Its vendors do not advertise much. The few that people mention on the site are on Reddit forums or special professional blogs. But in the users of a black net, WHM was, for many years, going internet market drugs and credit card fraud.
Although he did not reach the peak of his business dealings with his well-known brothers Silk method and AlphaBay, The White House market has established itself as one of the most popular and secure markets on the black internet. As a result when WHM closed abruptly on October 1, much to the surprise of dedicated users on the platform.
The letter leaving the one-page page was very brief, stating that the White House Market “has reached our goal” and that “now, according to the plan,” the page is closing.
“Thank you everyone for your business, your trust, your support and putting good money in our pockets,” read the letter. “We can come back with another job or we can’t come.” The letter was signed by WHM’s general manager, who is known for his online post, “mr_white.”
At its close, the platform had about 900,000 users, of whom more than a third – about 326,000 – were active. Like other dark-skin markets, it was found in an anonymous browser Tor and i2p. According to the figures announced, the White House Market had about 3,000 retailers, whose lists included credit card and bank fraud, false documents, illicit drugs and marijuana, opioids such as heroin and oxycodone, drugs including ketamine and PCP, cocaine, steroids, and amphetamines or meth.
The final list is similar to the title of the page, which features Walter White from Breaking Bad on the flag. But unlike Walter White’s fictional work, this one had a global presence, vendors and consumers stood out all over the world, even though most of the events took place in English.
On Tuesday, less than a month after the White House Market closed, the Department of Justice said he announced results of Operation Dark HunTor — a dangerous removal of the black internet worldwide which led to the arrest of 150 people, along with seizure of weapons, drugs, and more than $ 31 million in cryptocurrency and cash. Several well-known identified accounts were sent to the White House Market, according to court documents. Whether WHM and its supervisors are constantly being investigated is an open question.
It is not known how much money the founders of WHM have made since launching the site in August 2019, but they paid 4 percent of all transactions per transaction through the unlimited cryptocurrency Monero. Nicolas Christin, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University whose research focuses on cybercrime, finance, security, and cryptocurrency, estimates that the White House Market contributed at least $ 35 million in sales, meaning that homeowners’ fees would be less than . $ 1.3 million over the last two years.
In the end, Christin estimates, the sale would be $ 120 million, which would mean that page managers left with about $ 5 million.
The White House market is also known for its unique digital security, reliable customer service, and, perhaps surprisingly, its quality: It did not allow traffickers to sell child pornography, kill people for a fee, or market weapons, explosives, or poisons.