Dream Market Vendors Allege Support Scam and Loss of Funds Amid Shutdown
Summary
As Dream Market announced a move to a new URL after DDoS attacks, vendors alleged support tickets tricked them into sharing passwords and bitcoin addresses, leading to account lockouts and lost funds. The market has not confirmed the claims.
Key points
- Dream Market announced it would move its services to a new URL and partner company at the end of April 2019, following intermittent outages attributed to heavy DDoS attacks.
- Some users suspected law-enforcement involvement because of the timing of the announcement and a recent DEA operation, but the article provides no evidence that Dream Market was compromised by law enforcement.
- Vendors alleged that support tickets asked them to provide their password and most recently used bitcoin address to restore withdrawals.
- Vendor Terrysukstock claimed that after complying, his password was changed, his PGP key removed, and more than 5 bitcoin lost; other vendors reportedly supported his account.
- Dream Market had not issued an official response to the scam allegations, and the market's shutdown message was not signed with its official PGP key.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Dream Market
- Incident Type
- Reported DDoS attacks and alleged support-staff scams involving vendor account access and funds
- Operational Impact
- Dream Market domains were reportedly unavailable intermittently during DDoS attacks. The market announced a transfer to a new URL and partner company. Vendors alleged that support staff disabled withdrawals and took over accounts; one vendor claimed to have lost more than 5 bitcoin.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- A Dread user alleged that DDoS attacks prompted an extortion attempt. No details or confirmation of the attempt were reported.
- Claim Status
- claimed
People
GreentreeCADream Market vendor who posted a support ticket as evidence supporting the scam allegations.rockemsockem45DNM Avengers forum user who pointed out that the shutdown message’s date format differed from previous messages by Dream Market administrators and staff.TerrysukstockDream Market vendor who claimed that support staff’s identity-verification instructions led to loss of account access and more than 5 bitcoin.waterchainDread moderator for the Dream Market subforum and alleged member of Dream Market’s team; later said he had been locked out of his account by allegedly corrupted moderators.
Products
DreadThe news about the migration has been a topic of many discussions on the darknet, including on Dread, a darknet forum dedicated to security and harm reduction for darknet marketplace purchases.Dream MarketDream Market — one of the largest and most active remaining darknet marketplaces — has announced that it is officially shuttering its doors in its current location.Tor BrowserThe statement claims that it was prompted by DDoS attacks “on the Tor browser side” and an alleged extortion attempt.