How Bling Helped Bring Down AlphaBay

The largest marketplace on the Darknet, trading in illegal drugs, firearms, counterfeit goods and other contraband, has been recently shut down as a result of coordinated police operations covering several countries. Not only the largest but also the most lucrative, AlphaBay generated somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 a day, according to Dark Web researcher Nicolas Christin. In order to keep the secrecy, AlphaBay accepted only digital currencies and hid its tracks with Tor, the anonymity-preserving web browser popular among human rights activists and criminals alike.

In an article that reads almost like a script for the next box office crime movie, the Financial Times explains how law enforcement managed to take down AlphaBay. Just like in many blockbusters, it was a weak spot for bling-bling that eventually brought about the demise. As the FT writes, “It was partly caused by AlphaBay’s mastermind’s weakness for old fashioned cash—both accumulating it and bragging about it.”

Instead of keeping a low profile, AlphaBay founder Alexandre Cazes gathered 10 luxury vehicles, real estate worth over $12.5m and $770,000 in cash, all something he really liked to boast about.

"In postings on the RooshV social forum, a seedy platform for men to discuss how to pick up women, the married Cazes unwittingly provided crucial details about the car he drove. That allowed law enforcement to identify him driving the vehicle and ultimately track him to his home this month," writes the FT.

It’s not the first Hollywood-style law enforcement action. In 2013, the authorities took down the Silk Road after its founder, Ross Ulbricht, accidentally revealed his real email address in an online post. He is now serving a life sentence without parole.

It seems that Cazes didn't want this scenario for himself. After being arrested in Thailand, he was later found dead in his cell as a result of an apparent suicide.