Police in Amsterdam have assisted in dismantling the LeakBase database, one of the world’s largest online forums for trading stolen data, in an operation led by The Hague-based Europol and the FBI.

The LeakBase forum had some 142,000 registered users and over 215,000 messages between members. The data, ranging from credit card numbers, bank accounts, user names and passwords will be used in evidence, the American justice department said in a statement.

The Dutch leg of the investigation started in 2023 and led to the international cooperation of police forces in dozens of countries, the Amsterdam cybercrime police team said.

LeakBase was operated from a server based in Amsterdam. Police said the “necessary measures” against the server had been taken but did not explain what these entailed.

The operation included hundreds of targeted actions against 37 individuals earlier this week, and is ongoing. Apart from the United States and the Netherlands, police forces from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, Kosovo, Malaysia, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Britain were involved.

“Platforms such as LeakBase are the driving force behind cyber criminality. Stolen data is being sold on time and time again and used in phishing, helpdesk fraud, ransomware and identity theft,” the police said.

It is unclear how many people have fallen victim to the scams perpetrated as a result of the activities on the forum. The data has been added to the Check Je Hack website, where people can find out if any of their data has been stolen.