ABC Action News is exposing a secretive underworld of criminal activity where your personal security is at stake.
Think of it like "Amazon for crooks"
There are websites selling everything from stolen driver licenses to bank cards. You can even buy cocaine, guns, hired assassins, and hackers.
Days after the FBI shutdown Alphabay-- a so-called "darknet" website where criminals secretly bought and sold drugs, guns, and stolen identities all over the world-- the FBI boss at the Tampa office opened up about how they are cracking the criminal code.
"It's really an overall marketplace in anonymous fashion where a lot of crime can occur," says Eric Sporre, the Special Agent in Charge at the Tampa FBI Division.
Cyber Security expert Tony Martinez with CyberSequr says these sites are becoming more and more common.
"The ability to create these Ebay like websites on the dark web is very easy," he says.
You can't google your way to the dark net, you have to download a special software to get there, But once you do it allows you to anonymously search the internet. It opens the door a shadowy world of cyber market places where everything you can imagine can be bought and sold in secret.
"Everything is transacted in Bitcoin which is crypto currency, which is untraceable," says Martinez.
People in the Tampa area may be victims or engaged in activity on these sites.
"Certainly working in the Tampa area, that is my concern and that's why we want to get this info out to the public," says FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Sporre.
The dark-net is the new way criminals are doing business. So always monitor your bank transactions to make sure you're not being compromised. And if you have been, make sure you report it to police.
