"The gray cards are available and on sale, take advantage of them, friends". "I offer you a very good cocaine! ". On BlackHand, a sort of vast black market on the Internet, there were all kinds of prohibited goods. False papers, stolen credit cards, drugs ... "Child pornography was prohibited, however nuance Adeline P., the site administrator, while in police custody. Weapons, we were against and we did not want the sale of humans ”. Before its dismantling in June 2018 by OCLCTIC customs and police, BlackHand brought together up to 3,000 users. Including "Haurus", the ripou agent of the DGSI.
To access BlackHand, you had to connect to the Darkweb, a sort of clandestine part of the Internet, less monitored and accessible via an anonymization browser like Tor. When investigators attack this libertarian site, they target not the merchants but the officials. In May 2018, customs made a "coup" and pretended to be drug buyers. They manage to identify "Anouchka" and "Whidow", respectively administrator and moderator of Blackhand. Their profile holds surprises.
From 20 to 30 € per month
The first, identified as Adeline P., is a 30-year-old single mother. Unemployed and without a criminal record, she lives with her two children in Armentières (North). She has no particular IT expertise. And yet, this woman who “does not have a rosy life” runs BlackHand and makes ends meet by playing “escrow”, the trusted intermediary, on illicit transactions. Each seller registered on the site must also pay 20 to 30 € per month. In police custody, she claims to have only a "social role".
The second, Kevin B., 22, is based in Hérault. Teenager in his head, this young idler still lives with his mother in an opulent house surrounded by surveillance cameras. It moderates discussions, banishes rowdy members and also engages in credit card traffic. Arrested on June 12, 2018, Adeline P. and Kévin B. were charged and imprisoned, as well as a third site executive.
"The forum was gamesvideo.com illegal version"
Police, gendarme, detective, crooks, traffickers or simple teenagers ... On BlackHand, there are a variety of profiles. "The forum was gamesvideo.com illegal version", summarizes a former member. A universe with friendships and hatreds. Thus the moderator "Whidow" falls in love with the administrator "Anouchka", whom he has never met, however, and pays 850 € to the DGSI police officer so that he discovers his real identity. “By dint of being called every day, I developed feelings […] I wanted to put a name and a face on his voice, justifies Whidow to the investigators. When I couldn't get it, I felt sad and upset. "
Reputed to be boastful, the same "Whidow" unashamedly displays his financial wealth thanks to his occult activities. Which arouses lusts. "Haurus" and another member will have the idea to threaten him with revealing information on his private life if he does not pay 50,000 € in bitcoins. The DGSI agent obtains the name and address of the young moderator.
He then mailed a threatening letter containing information about Kevin B. from the Levallois-Perret post office near his workplace. But when the letter arrives, Kevin B. is in police custody and his mother opens the door. What is worth to "Haurus" indictment also for "attempted extortion" and "death threats". "I was thinking of scamming a web offender. I do not know what went through my head, it's a big bullshit, "regrets the police officer at the hearing, explaining" having taken himself for Tony Montana ".