[Nemesis Admin Sanctioned]

In this blog series we spotlight one of the stories from our cybersecurity newsletter, Beacon.

On Tuesday March 4th the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Iranian-based Behrouz Parsarad for running online dark web marketplace Nemesis, which was being used for trading drugs and cybercrime services.

In March 2024 following an international operation by German, U.S., and Lithuanian law enforcement agencies, the infrastructure of Nemesis was shut down. Following the take down, German authorities announced there were more than 250,000 user accounts and over 1,100 seller accounts registered on the site.

Parsarad, who is believed to be the main administrator of Nemesis and held full control over its cryptocurrency wallets, pocketed millions of dollars through fees he charged on every transaction, as well as helping Nemesis users launder funds.

While the sanctions are mainly over the use of narcotics trafficking, particularly fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, Nemesis users also visited the dark web site for the trade of fraudulently obtained goods, DDoS attacks, phishing, and ransomware. Described by the Treasury as a “Haven for narcotics,” the marketplace facilitated the sale of nearly $30m worth of drugs between 2021 and 2024.

Officials noted, “All property and interests in property of the blocked person described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

Before the sanctions were announced, Parsarad had been looking at creating a new marketplace to take the place of Nemesis: “Since the takedown of Nemesis, Parsarad has discussed setting up a new darknet marketplace with vendors that were once active on the marketplace,” the Treasury Department said.

The Treasury Department also went on to cite that the Office of Foreign Assets Control designation of Parsarad was the result of strong partnerships with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, FinCEN, and a range of law enforcement partners.