MILWAUKEE — The FBI took down a cybercrime marketplace Tuesday after the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a search warrant for the domain.
The search warrant allowed the FBI to take over Genesis Market, an online domain that allowed criminals to impersonate customers on websites like Amazon, Dropbox, Fidelity, PayPal, Microsoft, and Twitter, according to a search warrant obtained by TMJ4 News.
Users could buy and sell data that allowed them to impersonate individuals on major platforms. Since 2018, about 115 "packages" were purchased on the Genesis website, 27 of which were stolen from computers in Wisconsin, investigators allege.
The search warrant says of the 27, seven were in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Amazon and the other platforms themselves were never hacked. Instead, users would use "bots" and information purchased from the Genesis website to impersonate users on those platforms.
CNBC is reporting the website has now been replaced by a takedown notice from the FBI, urging users to contact the FBI with any information they might have about Genesis' administrators and operators.
The takedown was dubbed Operation Cookie Monster.
Cybersecurity researcher Matthew Gracey-McMinn at Netacea spoke with CNBC and said Genesis was a "big fish" and its shutdown could be seen as a warning to other bad actors.
Gracey-McMinn said that while the FBI took down the platform, it may not be able to detain owners or administrators who are likely located in Russia or Russian-speaking regions.
The FBI was the leader of the operation, but CNBC said law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the European Union assisted.
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