Such launches were not always a success; in February 2014 Utopia, the highly anticipated market based on Black Market Reloaded, opened only to shut down eight days later following rapid actions by Dutch law enforcement. Not long after those events, in December 2013, it ceased operation after two Florida men stole $6 million worth of users' Bitcoins. The shutdown was described by news site DeepDotWeb as "the best advertising the dark net markets could have hoped for" following the proliferation of competing sites this caused, and The Guardian predicted others would take over the market that Silk Road previously dominated.
Postal Inspection Service leverages our specialized knowledge of the postal system as part of sophisticated dark web investigations such as Operation SpecTor with great results,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary R. Barksdale of the U.S. We will continue to pursue bad actors engaged in these crimes to ensure they face justice, while protecting victims from these lethal substances.” “Our HSI special agents, alongside federal and international partners, continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and dismantle networks responsible for trafficking dangerous, deadly narcotics and other contraband across global communities we are charged with protecting. “That's why we will continue to join forces with our law enforcement partners around the globe to attack this problem together. The interagency efforts are aimed to both identify those who use anonymizing technologies to purchase illicit narcotics and direct them to available resources.
