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The technical infrastructure for Crimenetwork, a relaunched darknet marketplace used to sell stolen data, cybercrime tools, drugs, forged documents, and money-laundering services, was hosted on servers belonging to a company in Moldova, the country’s police said Wednesday.
Moldovan, German, and Spanish law enforcement, along with the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, dismantled the platform in a joint operation this month, authorities said.
Moldovan police described Crimenetwork as one of the most active darknet markets dedicated to cybercrime, saying it operated both as an encrypted forum for cybercriminals and as an illegal online marketplace.
“The platform operator charged commissions for transactions made, and sellers paid monthly fees for advertising and marketing licenses,” the Moldovan police statement said.
The Moldovan details of the case were made public after German authorities on May 8 announced the joint operation had taken down the platform and arrested its suspected operator, a 35-year-old German citizen, at his home in Mallorca, Spain.
“The accused is charged with having built and administered a completely new technical infrastructure, also called ‘Crimenetwork,’ just a few days after the shutdown of the previous version of ‘Crimenetwork’ and the arrest of its administrator in December 2024,” said the Federal Police Office of Germany statement.
Moldovan police said Crimenetwork was used to trade stolen bank card information, login credentials, and personal documents, as well as to distribute malware, ransomware, and DDoS attack services, and to facilitate other illicit activity, including anonymous hosting and money laundering.
The platform had more than 22,000 users and over 100 active vendors, with transactions carried out in cryptocurrency, German and Moldovan authorities said. Investigators found evidence that it generated more than 3.6 million euros (roughly $4.2 million) through sales commissions, advertising fees, and vendor licenses.
A separate statement by the Karlsruhe Prosecutor General’s Office and police in Offenburg and Reutlingen said the suspected operator of the platform was arrested on May 6.
German authorities said the suspect had allegedly been hiding in Mallorca under false identities for several years. In a separate investigation, he is suspected of defrauding around 1,000 people in Germany with fake online shops.
Searches in Mallorca and in Germany led to the seizure of electronic devices and cryptocurrency, German prosecutors said. Moldovan authorities said they had seized assets worth around 194,000 euros (about $228,000) in connection with the Crimenetwork operation.
The suspect remains in extradition custody while authorities coordinate his transfer to Germany.
The alleged operator of the predecessor version of Crimenetwork was sentenced to 7 years and 10 months in prison by the Gießen Regional Court in March 2026, said the press release by German authorities.
