DoubleVPN appeared to be offline Tuesday, after its splash page was replaced by that of an international law enforcement collective, declaring the site seized.
Screenshot / CNET

The website for Russian-based virtual private network service DoubleVPN was taken down Tuesday and replaced with a notice from an international collective of US and European law enforcement agencies. As first reported by Bleeping Computer, the notice declared the service had been seized.

The law enforcement collective, which includes the US Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation, alleges DoubleVPN kept traffic logs and personal information on users of the service and says to have obtained the data by seizing DoubleVPNs servers.

“On 29th of June 2021, law enforcement took down DoubleVPN. Law enforcement gained access to the servers of DoubleVPN and seized personal information, logs and statistics kept by DoubleVPN about all of its customers. DoubleVPN’s owners failed to provide the services they promised,” the now-defunct site reads.

“International law enforcement continues to work collectively against facilitators of cybercrime, wherever and however it is committed. The investigation regarding customer data of this network will continue.”

Until its take-down, DoubleVPN’s site claimed the service kept no logs or statistics on its users.

No evidence of logging has yet emerged.

The FBI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tuesday’s incident isn’t the first time DoubleVPN appeared on the law enforcement’s radar. In a 2014 case against an online shop selling counterfeit credit cards, the US Department of Justice pointed out DoubleVPN in a court filing, identifying it as a service used by at least one of the criminals later convicted in the case.