Largest darknet stolen credit card site closes

The administrators of the largest illegal marketplace on the darknet for stolen credit cards are retiring after making an estimated $358m (£260m).

The anonymous owners of UniCC thanked the criminal fraternity for their business, citing age and health for the closure.

Many other illegal darknet marketplaces have also shut down voluntarily over the winter for unknown reasons.

Police say the trend leaves them with mixed feelings.

The darknet is a part of the internet only accessible through special browsing software.

‘We are not young’

Cryptocurrency experts at analysts Elliptic traced hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-payments made to UniCC.

UniCC posted on darknet forums in both Russian and English saying “our team retires”. The anonymous criminals added: “We are not young and our health do not allow to work like this any longer”.

UniCC has been active since 2013 with tens of thousands of new stolen credit cards listed for sale on the market each day.

Hundreds of millions of payment card details have been stolen from online retailers, banks and payment companies before being sold on online marketplaces such as UniCC.

These stolen cards have value because they can be used to purchase high-value items or gift cards, which can then be resold for cash.