Europol-led action disrupted a large scam network advertising CSAM “as-a-service” across hundreds of thousands of dark web sites. Authorities report 373,000+ sites were taken offline and an investigation into identified customers is ongoing.

Europol announced a major law-enforcement operation that took down a scam network abusing the dark web to market child sexual abuse material (CSAM) “as-a-service.” The operation targeted a service model hosted across an extremely large number of sites, described by investigators as hundreds of thousands of dark web pages used to lure victims and customers. Europol says the action resulted in 373,000+ sites being shut down, cutting off the infrastructure used to advertise and traffic the fraudulent offering. The scheme was characterized as fraudulent rather than a legitimate content supply: law enforcement stated that customers who paid were not delivered the promised material. Instead, the operation was framed as a scam using dark web advertising to monetize interest while evading enforcement. In addition to disrupting websites, the operation included coordinated steps with partner authorities to seize technical assets used by the network. Europol also noted that the investigation has already identified customers linked to the activity, and that further work is underway to pursue those individuals. Authorities emphasized that the crackdown reflects continued efforts to disrupt serious online exploitation and dismantle the platforms enabling it.