If you want to know what Alexandre Cazes' number one key mistake was, it was this post HERE.
No Parallel Construction was even needed in this case.
Cazes/alpha02 made literally the exact same mistake as Ross/Frosty
Highlights of the above:
- Original portion of the post with identifying details.
- The date on which it was last edited was December 3, 2008
- The personally identifiable information was later removed (nearly 7 years after the fact!)
Perhaps the next person that decides to code and admin an international drug/fraud market will decide to read the fucking upcoming Wired article on this guy.
Laundering tens of millions of dollars in BTC isn't an easy task. It demands a measure of subtlety and operational ingenuity that you simply cannot possess if you are so foolish so as to think you can careen down the streets of Bangkok in a brand new Lamborghini Aventador LP-700-4 after doxxing yourself on a fucking tech website.
Thus far, history has shown that Darknet Market operators usually seem to be this weird blend of technically astute but socially retarded.
Perhaps it's the nature of the profession. Nor is it a coincidence about the age of these people.
There's a certain level of intelligence needed, as a prerequisite; to even attempt to run a market like that.
But on the flip side, they must also be naïve enough to underestimate the skills of their adversaries.
-RIP-
The other way of looking at this is that once again LEO spin the incompetent criminal story so that they needn't tell the overpowered government agency story and somehow we're all buying it again. I can't understand why so many of us are taking our enemy on their word particularly when said enemy's sole reason for existing is to protect secrets.