"The relaunch of Crimenetwork has failed, and another administrator will have to answer for his actions in a German court," said Carsten Meywirth, director of the BKA and head of its Cybercrime Department.
Arrest in Mallorca and the reconstructed infrastructure
Spanish investigators arrested a 35-year-old German citizen at his home in Mallorca last week after liaising with the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office – Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) – and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Germany. Authorities say the individual built an entirely new online infrastructure to host Crimenetwork just days after the marketplace's previous incarnation was shut down and its administrator arrested in December 2024. The arrested man is suspected of operating criminal trading platforms on the internet and trafficking in narcotics.
What the relaunched Crimenetwork offered and who used it
According to the BKA, the relaunched site facilitated brisk trade in stolen data, drugs, and forged documents, among other illegal goods and services. The new platform had grown to over 22,000 users and more than 100 vendors before the takedown. By comparison, the original marketplace — which had operated since 2012 — had amassed a following of over 100,000 users and more than 100 sellers, mainly from German-speaking countries.
Financial footprint: revenue, seizures, and cryptocurrency claims
The BKA stated the relaunched Crimenetwork generated revenue in excess of €3.6m (reported as $4.24m), with the operator taking a commission on each sale and sellers paying monthly fees for advertising and sales licenses. During the coordinated operation police seized €194,000 (reported as $228,400) in assets connected to the site, as well as user and transaction data the agencies said they will mine for intelligence that could lead to further arrests.
The BKA also asserted that, for the original site between 2018 and 2024, the marketplace had enabled sales of at least 1000 BTC (reported as $96.9m) and over 20,000 XMR (reported as $4m). The administrator of the original Crimenetwork was sentenced in March to seven years and ten months in prison and the court ordered the possession of over €10m.
Bilateral and multilateral policing: agencies involved
The operation brought together German and Spanish law enforcement with additional collaboration from the Moldovan National Investigation Inspectorate Center for Combating Cybercrimes, the BKA said. Spanish investigators carried out the arrest in Mallorca after liaising with the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office – ZIT – and the BKA. The BKA framed the action as part of consistent enforcement of applicable law in the darknet together with national and international partners; that message was underscored in a BKA-produced video released in German that the agency described as tongue-in-cheek.
What this means for German-speaking customers, vendors, and investigators
- German-speaking customers and vendors: Most customers of the relaunched marketplace are said to live in German-speaking countries. The seizure of transaction and user data creates the potential for follow-on investigations and prosecutions of buyers and sellers who used the platform.
- Investigators and prosecutors: Authorities intend to mine seized user and transaction data to generate intelligence that, according to the BKA, could lead to further arrests. The cross-border cooperation in this operation — involving Spanish authorities, the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office – ZIT, the BKA, and Moldovan cybercrime investigators — demonstrates the multi-jurisdictional approach applied to darknet marketplaces.
Carsten Meywirth framed the result succinctly: "We are also consistently enforcing applicable law in the darknet together with our national and international partners. Cybercrime doesn't pay." The immediate outcome is the arrest of a suspected operator and the seizure of assets and data; the next tangible step officials have signalled is analysis of that material to pursue additional enforcement actions and prosecutions in Germany.
