If you wanted something illegal, Silk Road likely had it, up until July 23rd that is when the FBI shut down the site. Dubbed the “Amazon of illegal things,” Silk Road reportedly sold everything from already made Happy Cookies to Crystal Meth, and weapons to hit men. The site offered a few other services including computer hacking services, access to bank account information, and even fake currency.
During a lengthy investigation the FBI reportedly made over 100 individual undercover purchases of Schedule I and II drugs through the site. The FBI has charged Ross William Ulbricht, also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts," for operating Silk Road.
The site went live in 2011 and for over two years sold some pretty dark stuff. So how did this blatantly illegal website, servicing over 957,000 user accounts (according to court records) stay under the proverbial radar for so long? User’s had to access the site using a very unique Browser that most people haven’t even heard of. FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell described Silk Road as a "sprawling black-market bazaar, where illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services have been regularly bought and sold by the site's users." In order to evade the authorities, Ulbricht allegedly managed to make his online activity anonymous using a unique network which makes it "practically impossible to physically locate the PCs associated with the network,” Tarbell wrote.
The site netted some serious revenue. The payment method of choice – Bitcoin. Court records indicate that the investigation has uncovered purchases totaling 9,519,664 Bitcoins plus 614,305 Bitcoins of commission for site operators. That converts to roughly $1.2 billion in revenue and $79.8 million in commissions. Buying and selling in Bitcoin has made investigations more difficult as the “money trail” is less clear through this virtual currency.
So let’s see what we have here – illegal sales of Schedule I and Schedule II drugs – Yep, that’s one of the charges. Money Laundering – yep, that one too. Computer Hacking – 3 for 3. Oh, and one last thing - Ulbricht was reportedly arrested October 1, 2013, in San Francisco.
I’m sure this isn’t the last of this story; we’ll keep you posted.