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19 People Charged in xDedic Case Years After 2019 Marketplace Takedown

By TheFinanceBase Team 2 min read

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The xDedic Marketplace stopped operating after authorities seized its domain names in January 2019. Five years later, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that 19 people worldwide had been charged in the investigation. DOJ said the marketplace sold access to compromised servers and personal information, and estimated that it had facilitated more than $68 million in fraud.

What was the xDedic Marketplace?

DOJ described xDedic as a dark-web marketplace where buyers could purchase login credentials for compromised servers and personally identifiable information, including dates of birth and Social Security numbers. According to the agency’s 2019 account, buyers could search for server credentials by price, location and operating system. The marketplace offered access to computers around the world and personal information belonging to U.S. residents. DOJ’s 2019 announcement says authorities believed xDedic facilitated more than $68 million in fraud. That figure is an agency estimate, not a final, proven total of losses.

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When was xDedic taken down?

Seizure orders against xDedic’s domain names were executed on January 24, 2019, effectively ceasing the website’s operation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the action on January 28, 2019. The operation involved international cooperation with authorities in Belgium, Ukraine and Germany, as well as Europol. The 2019 DOJ release dates the infrastructure seizure; the charges against 19 people were announced years later.

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What scale did DOJ report?

In its January 4, 2024 announcement, DOJ said more than 700,000 compromised servers had been offered for sale through the marketplace, including at least 150,000 in the United States and at least 8,000 in Florida. These are counts of servers offered for sale, not counts of distinct victims or confirmed intrusions. The release does not establish that each server represented a separate victim. DOJ’s 2024 announcement provides the server figures.

How do the 2019 takedown and 2024 charges differ?

Date Milestone What it means
January 24, 2019 Domain seizure orders executed The website’s operation effectively ceased, according to DOJ’s January 28, 2019 announcement.
January 4, 2024 Charges against 19 individuals announced DOJ described a later prosecution milestone stemming from the continuing transnational investigation.

The seizure disrupted the marketplace’s web infrastructure; it did not mark the end of the investigation. DOJ’s 2024 release describes alleged roles among administrators, sellers and buyers, but it does not provide a complete, current disposition for every defendant.

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What does “charged” mean in this case?

A charge or indictment is a formal accusation, not proof of guilt. DOJ’s case materials state that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Some cases were pending when the January 2024 announcement was issued, and the cited releases do not establish the latest outcome for every person named. See the DOJ xDedic victim-witness page and the case page for United States v. Alexandru Habasecu for official case information.

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