Canadian HeadQuarters operators have been apprehended and their site was taken down by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
The dark web marketplace operators include Chris Tyrone Dracos, who was fined $150,000, Marc Anthony Younes, Souial Amarak and Moustapha Sabir, who were each fined $50,000.
According to the CRTC, the dark web marketplace, described as one of the largest in the world, allowed people to sell spamming services, phishing kits, stolen credentials and access to compromised computers.
To dismantle the platform CRTC staff executed warrants in the Montreal area until 2020 and 2021. Investigations on the marketplace also uncovered other vendors associated with the platform.
“Some Canadians are being drawn into malicious cyber activity, lured by the potential for easy money and social recognition among their peers. This case shows that anonymity is not absolute online and there are real-world consequences when engaging in these activities,” said Steven Harroun, chief compliance and enforcement officer of the CRTC.