Drug trafficking, identity theft, money laundering… Imagine a dark web market where they all happen at the same time. That is it, It was none other than AlphaBay. Moreover, the audience reached was so large that the owner became a millionaire.

If you’re ready, who owns AlphaBay, what happened in the market? How much income did he earn from this black market? Let’s answer the questions about what happened next.

The dark web was a place where drug trafficking could easily take place.

It was in the early 2000s Silk Road The said market was the most famous trading address for drugs on the dark web. There wasn’t even any competition in the market, just having that site was enough. However, in 2010, the head of Silk Road was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment to set a precedent.

Do you think this punishment has deterred others? No. On the contrary To take the vacant throne of Silk Road The competition has started. Many more drug sales addresses were revealed. AlphaBay was one of them.

The market founded by a 22-year-old young man made him a multi-millionaire in just three years.

Canadian Alexandre Cazes, who was only 22 years old when he founded his market, US government documents show The world’s most profitable dark web market He was a millionaire.

Alexandre, using the username “Alpha02”, also had approximately $23 million in cash He owned property and vehicles worth $12.5 million. How did he win all this? We will see.

Drug distribution, identity theft, money laundering, firearms, computer hacking…

AlphaBay, founded by Alexandre in 2014, was the first 14,000 users in 90 days It was a market accessible via the dark web. In 2015, it had more than 200,000 users and more than 30,000 products listed on its website. Initially, only credit card information was sold. Afterwards, many products, such as medicines, were sold to make the company more profitable.

AlphaBay accepts both Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment methods. Hide the identities of moderators and users. The design of the site resembled Amazon in its simplicity. The growing site had already defeated its competitors and taken the throne of Silk Road.

According to official documents, the market’s annual turnover was hundreds of millions of dollars.

Alexandre went to Thailand with his wife with the money he earned there. a luxurious life lived. He owned many cars such as Lamborghini and several properties. They were present in Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Antigua and Barbuda. In short: he was a multi-millionaire.

Plus, you get all this with every sale. 2% to 4% commission He did it by taking it. He wasn’t the only employee either. He had a right-hand man, a PR manager and many moderators. Since he was the founder and brains of the site, he wasn’t very interested in the company. While Alexandre was enjoying himself in his villa and luxury cars, the FBI was actively looking for him.

They could easily reach the sellers, but Alexandre was very difficult to find.

When they entered the site, the name of the seller of the product was written, just like on Amazon. The police could easily find them, but what they really wanted to achieve was… He was the mastermind behind everything. No matter how they thought and searched, they couldn’t find Alexandre. The police were now also desperate.

One day, one of the officers was looking at the site on his computer when he noticed something. This is it The smallest detail a police officer sees This would make the events run smoothly.

Alexandre’s mistake led to his arrest.

Alexandre’s personal email address was visible on the Internet. in the header of emails sent to users who have forgotten their AlphaBay password. “[email protected]” address It was located. Moreover, this man was a successful computer expert. What an amateur mistake…

The police noticed this and informed the team immediately. trace the address government, FBI and 11 agencies from different countries; He was trying to reach Alexandre Cazes. The 91 in the email represented his birth year. He had also previously left a comment on a site via this email. His name was also in the comment.

Alexandre’s house

Now they knew who the person they were looking for was arrest warrant was out. Cazes, who was captured and arrested as a suspect in multiple crimes during a raid on his home, was held in a cell at the Bangkok Anti-Narcotics Bureau. Meanwhile, negotiations for his extradition to the US continued.

Alexandre killed himself and dozens of people.

A few hours before meeting prosecutors, Alexandre was found dead. The shadowy multimillionaire had committed suicide. Many people come to America because of the products he sells overdose deaths was also discovered.

Thus ended the era of one of the trading markets that took place in the dark layers of the Internet. Of course, there are currently many applications like AlphaBay. exploit the dark web market, Authorities continue to try to identify him.

You can check out our other content that might interest you: