This screen grab provided by the US Department of Justice on Thursday shows a hidden website that has been seized as part of a law enforcement operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and European law enforcement agencies acting through Europol. Such “darknet” sites operate in an anonymity-friendly internet netherworld that's inaccessible to ordinary browsers. Darknet refers to the use of various technologies to mask the site's operators and users, allowing buyers and sellers to connect anonymously -- to each other and to law enforcement. AlphaBay went so far as to hire scam watchers to monitor and quash scams on the site. While bitcoin can be traced when converted back to regular currencies, AlphaBay offered “mixing and tumbling services'' to shuffle bitcoin through several accounts before the conversion.

Source: Bangkok Post July 21, 2017 05:37 UTC