The U.S.
DoJ seized the domain, dismantling a bulletproof hosting provider linked to ransomware, infostealers, and illicit forums.
Court documents detail infrastructure marketing and Bitcoin payment flows without compliance checks.
An international business and the multiple names
The seizure was made on Tuesday as part of a coordinated operation between police authorities and private entities from several countries. The operation involved German police, the Dutch National Police, the British Crime Stoppers, as well as companies OverRIPE and Lumen Technologies.
According to court documents, the company also used the names Secury, Massgod, Spamhouse, Lanedo and Omegatech. It advertised on online forums for illegal activities, offering services that could be used for mass phishing, credit card fraud, spamming and network scanning.
The company even advertised an additional protection plan, promising that if requested by the authorities, it would transfer the illegal infrastructure to shell companies that had no connection to it.
Hosting illegal material and warnings
The documents state that Virtualine hosted a well-known website that allowed its users to sell illegal visual material featuring minors and adults, as well as advertise illegal hacking services.
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Despite numerous notices received from police authorities in Germany, Canada and Australia, as well as from protection organizations and victims' lawyers, the company continued to host the website.
Cryptocurrency payments and transactions
Virtualine accepted Bitcoin payments directly through wallet addresses that did not require any authentication or compliance checks.
According to digital transaction analysis firm Chainalysis, the company's financial traces are directly linked to groups that lock files for ransom, infrastructures that steal personal information, Russian-language illegal forums, illegal stores, and addresses associated with scams.
The administrator's response
After the address was seized, the administrator of Virtualine published an open letter and messages on the Telegram app. In them, he denied knowing that he was hosting illegal material with minors, claimed to be cooperating within 24 hours, and stated that his customers' data remains safe.
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