German police bust darknet child porn network 'with 400,000 members'

[Klaralven]

German police said Monday they had shut down "one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world" and arrested four of its members in a series of raids in mid-April.

The platform, named as "Boystown", had existed since 2019, counted over 400,000 members and was "set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography", federal police said in a statement.

The darknet forum allowed users to communicate with others and share graphic image and video content which included "serious sexual abuse of toddlers", the statement said.

Three men between the ages of 40 and 64 were arrested in seven raids in Germany, while a further suspect was detained in Paraguay on the request of German authorities.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210503-german-police-bust-darknet-child-porn-network-with-400-000-members

[Pachamama]

1. Most was of Toddlers being Sexually Abused....

That is some serious dark shit...

I don’t think there is something more horrendous...and then to think there were 400,000 members enjoying this sick horrific stuff....



I just want to read that each of the people participating have been arrested and removed from society and ever coming near children. But they are still all out there.

[johnthewoodworker]

2. I wonder if Florida congressmen Matt Gaetz was in on this.

[brewens]

5. I was just thinking a few in the GQPedo might be a little nervous seeing this. n/t

[Bucky]

15. This is more Josh Duggar territory

I wouldn't be surprised if his arrest was somehow tied to this ring.

I seriously wonder how many of those 400,000 account holders or customers will also end up doing time.

[machoneman]

18. Why not Trump too? Mr. p@ssy grabber, loves young girls, walks in on changing rooms.

Bet the Sercret Service folks could tell some tales.

[lpbk2713]

27. Maybe he ratted on them as part of a plea deal.

[vercetti2021]

3. Sick

Wonder how many people were self claimed proud boys? Maybe Q? Humans are disgusting creatures

[Takket]

4. Just when Matt gaetz thinks his month can't get any worse.

[CountAllVotes]

6. Shades of Jeffrey Epstein

Is Ghislaine Maxwell on this list or is it a "men's only" list?

[RVN VET71]

7. I doubt if the late Mr. Epstein or his chief pimp would be involved.

They apparently weren’t into toddlers. Their prey was older, pubescent girls (13-16) desired by the sick and perverted wealthy and influential friends of Lord Jeffrey, friends like Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, and Captain Underwear Dershowitz.

[CountAllVotes]

8. ugh

What a sick batch of perverts!

[getagrip_already]

11. Look closer at the wording.....

While the network included members who were interested in toddlers, not every member was likely looking for the same thing.

I'm sure the 13, 15, and 17 year old crowd was there as well. Wonder what Republicans will be outed?

Also remember most bitcoin like transactions and tor network connections can be tracked. So if there will be some panicked perverts as news spreads.

[RVN VET71]

23. Surely.

But don’t expect too much. Our home-bred perverts may not have been much involved with the network, mainly because they probably have their own sources of filth. But you have an important point: with 400,000 “members” there’s plenty of room for some Americans -- and who is most likely to be a pedophile in the U.S.? Why Republicans, of course.

Actually, I have just talked myself into your position! And I’ll throw Gaetz’s name into the mix. We know he liked teenagers and actively pursued at least one, and it is certainly no stretch to imagine that between him and Greenberg there wasn’t a mutual interest in viewing kiddie-porn -- and Gaetz was stupid enough to use Venmo to pay for his underage whores and, frankly, anyone that foolish would fall easy prey to a “darknet” cluster of pedo-sites.

[samnsara]

9. this makes me sick and great work busting these scum

[The Jungle 1]

10. I do not buy that there were 400,000 members and authorities didn't know.

Maybe I am just way to cynical but I think the story is way bigger.

[ailsagirl]

13. I'm sure it is, sadly. ☹️🤮😰

[Bucky]

16. I assume that number was the customers

It's a big internet

[getagrip_already]

24. more likely unique accounts.....

There was no mention of whether the site charged anything to have an account, but I suspect like most social media connection points its free to sign up and open an account.

Transactions would probably be a sideline for individual members. "Here is a sample of what I have, a full video will cost x in crypto, or send me a sample of what you have, and we can trade".

And like most social media sites, activity levels would likely vary wildly.

I haven't spent any real time on the dark web. I poked around for work reasons once but I didn't go to any of these sites or the ones selling illicit substances. It was mostly for security reasons. Just projecting. I could be very wrong.

[uponit7771]

26. +1, 400k members and few to no one slipped up till recently ?! unnn, doubt it too. There might be

... 400k people associated with something about something but 400,000 member for child porn and it went unnoticed?

[ailsagirl]

12. Probably the tip of the iceberg ☹️

But I’m very glad to hear this. 👏🏽👏🏽

[SheltieLover]

14. Hoping arrests will clean qpukes out of Congress

[IronLionZion]

17. How did Qanon people miss all this?

[Progressive Jones]

19. It wasn't at "Killery's" pizza joint... nt

[keithbvadu2]

21. In a basement that does not exist.

[nycbos]

20. 400,000?

Jesus how sick.

[MineralMan]

22. Well, it was an international site.

The global population is pushing 8 billion. 400,000 is a tiny percentage of that total.

The number doesn't surprise me at all.

[getagrip_already]

25. and it was probably only that low because...

you have to have a few brain cells to get there. It isn't like typing in a web address on your computer.