Wall Street Market Admins Escape with Over $14 Million

Less than a month after the shutdown of Dream Market, one of the largest darknet marketplaces, the dark web has lost another major player—Wall Street Market (WSM). According to available information, the site’s administrators have disappeared, taking with them more than $14.2 million belonging to vendors of drugs, weapons, and malicious software who used the platform’s services.

Admins Transfer Funds and Disappear

As reported by ZDNet, last week WSM administrators began moving funds from the marketplace’s Bitcoin wallets—where buyers deposited money—to other wallets unrelated to Wall Street Market. The admins claimed these actions were due to server issues that supposedly made all transactions and withdrawals impossible, assuring users that the measure was only temporary.

However, users quickly doubted these explanations and accused the administrators of fraud. At the time of reporting, some product listings on Wall Street Market had been renamed to warn buyers not to use the site. Additionally, WSM was removed from the DeepDotWeb directory of underground resources.

Moderator Blackmails Users

In a surprising twist, one of WSM’s moderators began blackmailing users, threatening to reveal their addresses to law enforcement unless they paid a ransom of 0.05 Bitcoin (about $280). The moderator also posted his own login credentials online, allowing anyone—including the police—to access the WSM server and information about both vendors and buyers.

Possible Connection to Dream Market Shutdown

Some cybersecurity experts believe the situation with WSM is connected to the planned closure of Dream Market, scheduled for April 30 of that year. The shutdown of such a major marketplace would likely have driven a surge of users to Wall Street Market and attracted increased attention from law enforcement. It appears the WSM administrators did not want to take that risk and chose what they saw as the safest option—disappearing with the funds.