International police shut 'one of world's largest' criminal online markets

International police have shut down what they called "one of the world's largest" online markets dealing in millions of stolen identities and account details, Europol said on Wednesday.

The global sweep targeting the Genesis Market resulted in 199 arrests and involved 17 countries and was led by the US FBI and the Dutch police, the EU's policing agency said.

The operation was dubbed "Operation Cookie Monster".

"An unprecedented law enforcement operation involving 17 countries has resulted in the takedown of Genesis Market, one of the most dangerous marketplaces selling stolen account credentials to hackers worldwide," Europol said.

"Genesis Market listed for sale the identities of over two million people when it was shut down," the Hague-based agency said.

Action against criminals took place in countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, the United States and more than 10 countries in Europe.

"Through the combined efforts of all the law enforcement authorities involved, we have severely disrupted the criminal cyber ecosystem by removing one of its key enablers," said Edvardas Sileris, who heads Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, which assisted in the operation.

The EU's judicial agency, Eurojust, which is also based in The Hague said it was a "multi-country effort dubbed Operation Cookie Monster".

"Genesis Market customers were located all over the world and actively purchasing stolen packages of victim data until this takedown," it said.

Invitation only

Britain's National Crime Agency said 24 people were arrested in Britain. Another 17 people were arrested in The Netherlands.

Europol said the Genesis Market offered "bots" for sale that had infected victims' devices through malware or other methods.