After the law enforcement takedown of RaidForums and the arrest of its owner, “Omnipotent,” in March 2022, BreachForums surfaced on the scene. However, its operations were short-lived, as it was shut down in 2023. However, the forum made a comeback when “Baphomet” joined forces with “ShinyHunters” to establish a new site bearing the same name.
Now in a big teamwork effort involving the FBI and authorities from Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, the US, and Ukraine, a dark place on the internet called BreachForums got shut down. This place was known for doing sneaky stuff like leaking data, selling critical exploits, doing ransomware, etc.
Under the administration of its former leader, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, alias “pompompurin,” the forum thrived until his arrest in March of the previous year. Following Fitzpatrick’s apprehension, control of the forum passed to an individual known as “Baphomet”, who continued its dark operations.
The FBI, aided by its international counterparts, also seized control of the forum’s Telegram channel operated by “Baphomet”.
Under the administration of its former leader, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, alias “pompompurin,” the forum thrived until his arrest in March of the previous year. Following Fitzpatrick’s apprehension, control of the forum passed to an individual known as “Baphomet”, who continued its dark operations.
The FBI, aided by its international counterparts, also seized control of the forum’s Telegram channel operated by “Baphomet”.
“This Telegram chat is under the control of the FBI. The BreachForums website has been taken down by the FBI and DOJ with assistance from international partners,” a message read on seized telegram channel.
Other high-profile threat actors from the dark web, like “IntelBroker” and “ShinyHunters,” said Baphomet got arrested. But we’re not sure if that’s true. Although the seize banner by the FBI shows the avatars of Baphomet and ShinyHunters behind bars, we don’t know if they’re really arrested or not.
After shutting down BreachForums, the FBI asked anyone who knows about cyber crimes there to come forward and spill the beans. You can reach out to them through their Telegram (@fbi_breachforums), email (breachforums@fbi.gov), or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website (breachforums.ic3.gov).
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