NEW YORK ¨C The Silk Road website, before being shut this week by the U.S., was a cyber-bazaar of the criminal underworld that connected buyers and sellers of heroin, cocaine and hacking services. It combined eBay-style customer reviews and shipping tips with an open disregard for the law.
¡°We are happy to announce a new category in the marketplace called Forgeries,¡± the site¡¯s alleged 29-year-old overseer, who called himself Dread Pirate Roberts, said in a message posted Aug. 5, 2011, according to a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court. ¡°In this category, you will find offers for forged, government-issued documents including fake IDs and passports.¡±
U.S. agents arrested the man they believe is Dread Pirate Roberts and seized the site, describing it in the complaint unsealed yesterday as ¡°the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet.¡± Silk Road used Bitcoin digital currency to generate the equivalent of $1.2 billion in illicit sales and take in $80 million in commissions in less than three years, according to the complaint.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.