update march 22, 2024 – German authorities ANNOUNCED on March 21 2024 that they had taken down the Nemesis market.

The law enforcement takedown involved the seizure of the marketplace’s infrastructure in Germany and Lithuania and cryptocurrency worth the equivalent of approximately 102,000 USD. German authorities stated at the time of seizure that Nemesis had 150,000 user accounts and over 1,100 seller accounts worldwide.

Nemesis was rare among escrow markets for not having drugs as the top product category – though there were of course still plenty for sale.

Instead, the most common listing classifications were guides and tutorials and carding. Carding is dark web terminology for stealing or purchasing credit card details which can then be “cashed out” in a number of ways, such as by using them to buy high-value goods or prepaid cards that can then be used by the attacker or sold for profit.

Nemesis was also notable for the feud between itself and the operators of dark web forum Dread after its dedicated subforum was banned from the site. Never-the-less, it managed to maintain its popularity in spite of being seen as an “outsider” and viewed with suspicion among some dark web users.