The illegal marketplace “RaidForums” has been shut down and its infrastructure seized as a result of Operation TOURNIQUET, a complex law enforcement effort coordinated by Europol in support of independent investigations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal and Romania. The forum administrator and two of his accomplices were arrested.
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The hacking forum RaidForums, used primarily for the trading and sale of stolen databases, has been shut down and its domain seized by law enforcement during Operation TOURNIQUET, an operation coordinated by Europol and involving law enforcement agencies in multiple countries.
The administrator of RaidForum and two of his accomplices were arrested and the illegal market infrastructure is now under the control of law enforcement authorities.
RaidForums administrator and founder Diogo Santos Coelho from Portugal was arrested on January 31 in the United Kingdom and faces criminal charges. He has been in custody since his arrest, pending the resolution of his extradition proceedings.
The US Department of Justice says today that Coelho is 21 years old, which means he was just 14 when he started RaidForums in 2015.
Three domains hosting RaidForums have been seized: “raidforums.com”, “Rf.ws” and “Raid.Lol”.
According to the DoJ, the marketplace offered for sale more than 10 billion unique records from hundreds of stolen databases that affected people residing in the US.
In a separate announcement today, Europol says RaidForums had more than 500,000 users and was “considered one of the largest hacking forums in the world.”
The dismantling of the forum and its infrastructure is the result of a year of planning between law enforcement authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal and Romania.
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It is unclear how long the investigation took, but cooperation between law enforcement agencies allowed authorities to form a clear picture of the roles played by different individuals at RaidForums.
The European law enforcement agency shared few details in its press release, but notes that the individuals who kept RaidForums running worked as administrators, laundered money, stole and uploaded data, and purchased the stolen information.
Coelho allegedly controlled RaidForums since January 1, 2015, the indictment reveals, and operated the site with the help of several administrators, organizing its structure to promote the buying and selling of stolen goods.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
