International law enforcement agencies have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, New Zealand Police said on Thursday, in a multinational crackdown dubbed "Operation Cookie Monster".
A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site said domains belonging to the organisation had been seized by the FBI. Logos of other European, Canadian and Australian police organisations were also emblazoned across the site, along with that of cybersecurity firm Qintel.
"The website offered up the online credentials of victims whose devices had been infected by malware or account takeover attacks," New Zealand Police said in a statement.
Global authorities alleged criminals could access personal information after making purchases through the site.
New Zealand Police Det Insp Stuart Mills said local officers executed a search warrant at an Auckland address on Wednesday morning as part of Aotearoa's phase of the operation.
Mills said a 30-year-old man was subsequently arrested.
A senior FBI official told Reuters arrests had also been made in the US but declined to provide further details. The investigation into Genesis was still ongoing.
New Zealand Police said the operation was led by the FBI and Dutch National Police, and coordinated from the EU law enforcement agency Europol.
The UK said 17 countires in total were involved in the operation which had resulted in about 120 arrests, more than 200 searches and almost 100 pieces of "preventative activity".
According to the US, Genesis Market's administrators were believed to operate from Russia.
Genesis specialised in "enabling sophisticated malware used to infect victims' computers and harvest personal data", said Mills.
Once information was bought from Genesis, a user could imitate a person's online accounts - allowing them to commit further fraud, he said.
The site had been active since 2018.
According to the UK, Genesis had operated by selling credentials from as little as 70 cents to hundreds of dollars depending on the stolen data available.
Britain's National Crime Agency said countries involved in the investigation included Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the US, UK, Germany, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
"This was a significant global operation which has seen a large number of law enforcement agencies from around the world take part in dismantling this illicit marketplace," Mills said.
"New Zealand Police continues to work very closely with our international partners as we continue to target organised criminal operations such as these and prevent the serious harm they cause."
Reuters / Newshub.
