The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) was part of a group of law enforcement agencies from 17 different countries that took part in the crackdown led by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Dutch National Police. On April 4th, around 120 arrests, 208 property searches, and 100 pieces of preventative activity were carried out across the globe. 

The UK made 24 of those arrests according to the NCA, including two men detained in the NCA in Grimsby on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act and fraud offences. 

Genesis Market – the now defunct marketplace – had 80 million sets of credentials and digital fingerprints for sale. It was a go-to service for criminals looking to defraud victims. 

Rob Jones, NCA Director General said: “Behind every cyber criminal or fraudster is the technical infrastructure that provides them with the tools to execute their attacks and the means to benefit financially from their offending.

“Genesis Market was a prime example of such a service and was one of the most significant platforms on the criminal market. Its removal will be a huge blow to criminals across the globe.”

There were over 1.5 million bots listed on Genesis Market, and as a part of the takedown the policing services found digital fingerprints and identities of over two million people. In response, the Dutch Police developed a portal to check whether your information was compromised.

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Bots, which were available on Genesis Market to give criminals access to data such as cookies, saved logins, and autofill form data were collected in real time, meaning even changing your password would not thwart it. The price per bot would range from as little as $0.70 USD (£0.56) to several hundreds. 

“Targeting this infrastructure is at the core of the NCA’s efforts to disrupt the highest harm offenders and protect the public from those seeking to infiltrate their lives, stealing their identities and their money,” said Jones.

The UK will continue to make arrests and take preventative action. According to the NCA, many users will be contacted by law enforcement to be warned about their potentially criminal activity.