【Actress Giving Permission to Director During Audition】

What to do Actress Giving Permission to Director During Auditionwhen your favorite source for illicit substances goes offline for less than 24 hours?

Well, if you're a customer of the Dark Web marketplace AlphaBay who happens to have an untold amount of cryptocurrency tied up in the enterprise, the answer is clear: You start freaking the fuck out.

Oh, and allege that the proprietors of the site have stolen all your Bitcoin for good measure.

However, thankfully for those trying to buy everything from drugs to Australian Medicare cards, the situation may be a lot simpler than what first meets the eye.

SEE ALSO: The Deep Web: Everything You Need to Know in 2 Minutes

Dark Web marketplaces burst into the public consciousness following the 2013 FBI seizure of The Silk Road and the arrest of its founder, Ross Ulbricht. The online services, accessible via TOR, allow for the sale of typically illegal goods and services and rely on rating systems for potential buyers to evaluate sellers and their products.

AlphaBay is one such marketplace, and until July 4 things seemed to be humming along as smoothly as things at an illegal international online drug bazaar can. Then the site went down, and customers started crying "exit scam."

The theory, as so much as there was one, was that the AlphaBay founders had absconded with any and all cryptocurrency tied up in the site — never to be seen again.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

What was especially galling to some was that, as speculation spiraled out of control, no one from the site jumped in to calm the worried masses down.

Shiny, shiny coins. Credit: GEORGE FREY/GETTY IMAGES

"HEY MAN WHAT IS PISSING ME OFF IS WHY NOBODY FROM SUPPORT POST SOME FUCKING UPDATE HERE TO CALM DOWN EVERYBODY ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON MAN ????," wrote one Reddit user in a thread titled "WHY NOBODY FROM ALPHABAY STAFF POST SOME FUCKING UPDATE HERE ???."

"Because they are sunning themselves with our fucking money," read one typical response.

Others took it further, noting that "If it's an exit scam i'm gonna make a fundraising company to find and bomb them :)."

Various media outlets picked up on the story, further adding fuel to the certainly not-drug-induced-paranoia fire. Other Reddit users didn't help, with one claiming to have "an internal source that has confirmed it's an exit scam [...]."

Reddit sleuths, which are known for getting things right, went down various rabbit holes of Bitcoin transactions suggesting they had proof that cryptocurrency was being moved from AlphaBay's wallets in mass. All the while, the digital mob continued to grow.

And, to be fair, the idea of an exit scam is not too farfetched. After all, it's happened before. But when it comes to an AlphaBay exit scam, there's just one problem: According to one Reddit poster who actually has confirmed involvement with the workings of AlphaBay, the site merely went down for some standard IT work.

"Will be back online soon," explained the user known as Big_Muscles. "Servers under update."

So there you have it, denizens of the AlphaBay corner of the Dark Web. Your cryptocurrency, drugs, stolen IDs, and whatever else you've got going on are safe for now. That is, unless Big_Muscles is in on the scam too... but that's a conspiracy theory which will just have to wait for another day (or another Reddit thread).

---

Featured Video For You

---

Step inside the secretive class that turns people into hackers

---

Topics Bitcoin Cryptocurrency

• Tech
• Science
• Entertainment
• Shopping
• Games
• Life
• Deals
• Social Good

• YouTube adds parent code feature, blocking your child's access to adult accounts
• Webb telescope just got a crystal
• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 6
• Best Kindle deal: Save $50 on Kindle Paperwhite Essentials Bundle
• Sri Lanka vs. Australia 2025 livestream: Watch 1st ODI for free
• Best kids deal: Save 22% on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids
• Best mesh wifi deal: Save $75 on the Amazon eero 6+
• No, Katy Perry wasn’t at the Met Gala. Yes, that dress was AI.
• Then and Now: 5 Generations of Radeon Graphics Compared
• Jackery Solar Generator 1000 V2 and E100 Plus: Only $499

• What does heteroflexible mean?
• Robert Frost’s Death Wish
• The Strugatsky Brothers’ Sci
• Best Prime Day headphones deal: 50% off Beats Solo3
• How to get the AI '90s yearbook photos all over TikTok
• 9 things we learned from MrBeast's Rolling Stone cover story
• Want to Keep People Away? Don’t Insult Them; Confuse Them.
• Ho, Ho, Ho—A Silly Symphony with a Frankly Terrifying Santa Claus
• Seeing the Sixties and Seventies Through 2001 and Alien
• NYT's The Mini crossword answers for October 9

• Cyberattack on healthcare chain exposes sensitive data of 5.6 million patients
• Best mesh wifi deal: Save $75 on the Amazon eero 6+
• NYT mini crossword answers for May 6, 2025
• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 7
• The White House might have inflated Trump's golf record, because this is how we live now
• Amazon's new 'Vulcan' warehouse robot has the human touch
• Best kids deal: Save 22% on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids
• NYT mini crossword answers for May 6, 2025
• Save 50% on a Blink video doorbell and camera bundle
• Bluetti Solar Generator Elite 200 V2 deal: Take $700 off at Amazon

• How to quit social media: This Gen Z
• Apple Watch sales are consistently falling without new models
• Jackery Solar Generator 1000 V2 and E100 Plus: Only $499
• Best parent deal: Get Instacart+ free for three months
• 'Alien: Earth' series offers behind
• Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 just received their first discount
• Save 50% on Calm Premium memberships
• Get free flowers when you sign up for Target Circle 360
• Eric Wei's essentials for creating podcasts and running a business
• MrBeast is teaming with 'Maximum Ride' author James Patterson to write a novel