35

THE DEATH OF

DARKMARKET

Whoever Cha0 really was, the unexpected arrest of Çağatay Evyapan
appeared to sow panic among his fellow administrators on DarkMarket.
On 16th September 2008, less than a week after the bust in Istanbul,
Master Splyntr announced on the DM website that the police successes
were fraying his and his fellow administrators' nerves. It was a burden
they no longer felt able to shoulder.

It is apparent that this forum . . . is attracting too much attention
from a lot of the world services (agents of FBI, SS, and Interpol).
I guess it was only time before this would happen. It is very
unfortunate that we have come to this situation, because . . . we
have established DM as the premier English speaking forum for
conducting business. Such is life. When you are on top, people
try to bring you down.

In the space of a week the premier criminal website of the English-
speaking world was dead. Its followers were distraught. 'DarkMarket
was our bridge to business, and if that bridge is broken . . .' lamented
a member named Iceburg, posting on Wired magazine's website. 'Long
live cashing and carding. Short live all the RATS and FBI and all
stupid secret agencies who are not just ruining our lives and families,
but are destroying everything we left behind.'

It seemed as though the cybercops had won. This being DarkMarket,
though, the story wasn't quite so simple.