Skip to main content
Back to the takedown index

Monopoly Market seizure

December 2021, Darknet market
Led by Bundeskriminalamt

Extended pass entry, last reviewed August 21, 2026

What was taken down?

Server infrastructure covertly seized and monitored before public disclosure.

See what happened

What happened to the people?

No individual outcomes are recorded against this entry.
Group accounted for: Not applicable

See people and accountability

Did it stay down?

After this action the service returned under the same operators, first seen May 2023. No later seizure of the replacement is recorded. Medium confidence in the link between the two.

See what happened afterward

German authorities seized Monopoly Market's server infrastructure; the seizure was not publicly disclosed at the time and instead formed the intelligence basis for a later multinational operation against vendors and buyers.

Date
December 2021
Target
Monopoly Market, darknet market
Activity
Darknet market
Operational lead
BKA
Jurisdiction
Not established
Outcome
Server infrastructure covertly seized and monitored before public disclosure.
Status
Completed
Legal mechanism
German judicial search/seizure authority.
Group accounted for
Not applicable

No individual is named against this entry in the cited record. That is a gap in what has been published rather than a finding that nobody was involved.

Group accounted for: Not applicable

No operator arrest was announced in connection with the infrastructure seizure itself.

See the organizations and roles behind this action

After this action the service returned under the same operators, first seen May 2023. No later seizure of the replacement is recorded. Medium confidence in the link between the two.

  1. May 2023

    Operation SpecTor vendor/buyer sweep. Same operators. Confidence: Medium. No later seizure recorded.[2]

    SpecTor explicitly used evidence gathered during the covert Monopoly Market seizure to identify vendors and buyers for arrest.

    Later action: Operation SpecTor

May 2023

Operation SpecTor vendor/buyer sweep. Same operators. Confidence: Medium. No later seizure recorded.[2]

SpecTor explicitly used evidence gathered during the covert Monopoly Market seizure to identify vendors and buyers for arrest.

Later action: Operation SpecTor

Numbered markers throughout this entry link to the source that supports the claim beside them.

Official sources

  1. [1]
    Monopoly Market infrastructure seizure

    Europol, May 2, 2023, Source grade P2

    Establishes the covert 2021 German seizure of Monopoly Market infrastructure later disclosed alongside Operation SpecTor.

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

  2. [2]
    Operation SpecTor: 288 dark web vendors arrested worldwide

    Europol, May 2, 2023, Source grade P2

    Establishes the 288-arrest figure, seized cash/virtual currency, drugs, and firearms.

    No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

Coverage note. Added from deep-research aggregation pass. Not independently re-verified source-by-source to the same standard as the original 38-incident core; source_quality capped at S2/P2 pending a dedicated verification pass.