RaidForums was an English-language black hat hacking internet forum founded in 2015. The website facilitated the discussion of a variety of hacking topics and was a notable distributor of various data breaches, hacking tools, and pornography until its closure and seizure by law enforcement authorities in 2022.[1] The website was monetized via advertisements and through a tiered membership program where members with higher tiers would receive elevated access to the forum and its contents.[2][3]

RaidForums
RaidForums.com domain seizure notice in June 2022
Domain seizure notice on raidforums.com
Type of site
Internet forum
Available inEnglish
DissolvedApril 12, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-04-12)
Successor(s)BreachForums
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Founder(s)Diogo Santos Coelho, also known by his screen name "Omnipotent"
URLrf.to Edit this at Wikidata
AdvertisingYes
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Users530,000 at time of shutdown
Launched2015; 9 years ago (2015)
Current statusSeized by the United States FBI

History

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RaidForums began in 2015 as a platform for Twitch raiders.[4]

Domain seizure

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The domain and its contents were seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on April 12, 2022 after a month of downtime, in collaboration with the United States Secret Service, the United States Department of Justice, and a variety of other national and international law enforcement agencies.[1]

 
RaidForums.com in 2021

Administration

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The website was allegedly founded by a 21-year old Portuguese national, Diogo Santos Coelho under the screen name "Omnipotent", who was arrested on January 31, 2022 in the United Kingdom.[5] His arrest occurred pending several years of investigation after several of his devices were searched under warrant at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in June 2018, suggesting he was the owner and primary administrator "Omnipotent". According to hackread.com, an administrator under screen name "Jaw" & "souls" announced the seizure officially on the forum's public Telegram channel, and redirected subscribers of the channel to RaidForums' backup domain rf.to,[2] which however went offline (and has remained offline for months) after this statement, only becoming reachable again after Diogo Santos Coelho's release on bail[6][7] in August 2022.

Impact

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At the time of its closure in 2022, the forum had over 530,000 registered users and was one of the most prolific and easily accessible clearnet illicit hacking forums.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Krebs, Brian (April 12, 2022). "RaidForums Gets Raided, Alleged Admin Arrested". Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Hacking forum Raidforums.com allegedly seized by authorities". February 25, 2022. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Lyngaas, Sean (April 12, 2022). "FBI and international partners seize control of popular hacking forum". CNN. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  4. ^ "What It's Like to Run a Hacking Forum: A Conversation With RaidForums Owner Omnipotent". The Record by Recorded Future. January 13, 2021. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  5. ^ "United States of America v. Diogo Santos Coelho". justice.gov. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  6. ^ "RaidForums admin "Omni" granted conditional bail while U.K. considers U.S. extradition request". October 21, 2022. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  7. ^ "RaidForums". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. October 21, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
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