Dutch Police Capture Most Wanted Cyber Criminal in ‘Operation Cookie Monster’
A man who was considered the top suspect by Dutch police in the investigation of the Genesis Market, a dark web platform for stolen computer credentials, has been apprehended. This arrest took place as part of a multinational operation called “Operation Cookie Monster,” which aimed to dismantle the illicit marketplace.
The Genesis website was shut down in April in an operation that was reported at the time to have involved law enforcement from 17 countries and more than 120 arrests.
According to international researchers, the site has been used to sell the stolen domain names of more than 2 million people, such as web browser fingerprints and cookies. Credentials can be used by hackers to bypass anti-fraud protection.
Police said in a statement that a 32-year-old Dutch national living in Brazil may be among the top ten users of Genesis Market.
They did not identify him or give details of the crimes he is suspected of committing, other than that he is suspected of defrauding many people, some of whom were robbed of tens of thousands of euros.
The suspect was arrested last week while he was in Holland, but the police only made the arrest public this week for investigation purposes.
