It seems online black markets are going through a precarious time. Sheep, one of the most popular online drug-selling sites, has shut down after an alleged theft of thousands of Bitcoins from the site. Another site, Black Market Reloaded, has temporarily gone offline.

Sheep received thousands of users after its competitor, Silk Road, shut down in October. Unfortunately, their luck ran out rather quickly when it shut down over the weekend, claiming that a vulnerability in the site’s security allowed someone to steal $6 million worth of Bitcoins. Sheep is using the theft as an excuse not to pay back users, and have taken $44 million from its online community. Not cool.

But that’s not all. Black Market Reloaded, the leading online black market, announced its plans to go offline because it couldn’t handle the influx of buyers and sellers after Sheep and Silk Road closed down. They made a statement on their website saying that such a large number of users destabalizes security measures that have installed to ensure that everyone remains anonymous.

The online black market industry has been wobbly ever since the alleged owner of Silk Road was arrested in October. Nevertheless, other drug selling sites like DeepBay and Buster remain online.

[Source : Forbes]