If you’re looking to purchase drugs online, you may have heard about the dark web as a popular marketplace for such transactions. While it can be a daunting place to navigate for beginners, with the right knowledge and precautions, buying drugs on the dark web can be done safely and discreetly. Here are some steps to help you in your quest:
In fact, when researchers at King’s College, London, looked at the contents of nearly 3,000 sites on the Dark Web, they discovered that 57 per cent were hosting illicit material. Vendors and buyers on dark web marketplaces typically operated under anonymous monikers. However, vendors received ratings from buyers of narcotics based on, among other things, the quality of contraband, reliability of delivery and volume of traffic. In addition, vendors received rankings from the marketplace administrators based on user input. One way drug sellers and buyers access the dark web is through a browser called TOR, short for The Onion Router.
DRUG TRAFFICKING ON DARK WEB
Step 1: Accessing the Dark Web
Robot that was “busted” for buying drugs on the Dark Web is back
Today, there are more varieties of darknet markets — these new dark web markets are more likely to specialize in specific goods or a unique transaction system. Once access was granted, vendors and customers used the Silk Road to make transactions with cryptocurrency or via an escrow (a trusted third-party). To avoid detection, all purchased items were sent to alternative addresses, like PO boxes.
The first step in buying drugs on the dark web is accessing it through a special browser like Tor. This browser allows you to browse websites anonymously and access hidden services on the internet.
Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation
Step 2: Finding a Marketplace
Once you have accessed the dark web, you will need to find a marketplace where drugs are sold. Popular marketplaces like AlphaBay and Dream Market have been shut down, but new ones frequently pop up. Look for forums or subreddit threads that discuss reliable marketplaces.
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The next most popular drugs, making up about 30 percent of sales, are stimulants like cocaine and amphetamines. Much like the surface web, the dark web is made up of friend-to-friend and peer-to-peer networks, along with larger popular networks like Tor, Freenet and Riffle. The most popular Tor network is Silk Road—an online black market that allows anonymous browsing without any traffic monitoring.
Step 3: Setting Up Your Wallet
Before making any purchases, you will need to set up a digital wallet that allows you to make transactions using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This adds an extra layer of anonymity to your purchases.
- DarkList, in fact, seems to position itself as less clearly illegal than sites like the Silk Road–a difficult argument given that it could likely still be accused of narcotics conspiracy–or at least less of a target for law enforcement.
- The ClearNet forums’ information was inspected to study DarkNet drug users’ behavioral shift in cryptocurrency.
- COVID-19 has certainly made it more difficult for some regular users to obtain the drugs they are addicted to.
- An enterprising dealer could, for instance, pick up a gram of heroin from the Netherlands for $75.
- Drugs on the darknet have a better reputation regarding cleanliness (Bancroft, 2017; Munksgaard et al., 2022), and some form of harm reduction also derives from the communities formed around darknet markets (Aldridge et al., 2018; Szigeti et al., 2023).
Step 4: Making the Purchase
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Once you’ve found a marketplace and set up your wallet, you can start browsing for the drugs you wish to purchase. Make sure to read reviews from other buyers to ensure the quality and reliability of the seller.
Step 5: Receiving Your Order
After making your purchase, the seller will ship the drugs to a specified address. It’s important to use a drop address – an address not linked to your identity – to receive the package discreetly.
Hernandez concealed his criminal activity by accepting payment only in the form of Bitcoin and operating under the online monikers “dragoncove,” “originaldragoncove” and “theoriginaldragoncove”. Hernandez shipped packages under fictitious names and directed customers to contact him through encrypted messaging services. “HSI and our partners will continue to work tirelessly to keep deadly narcotics out of our communities, no matter where they are sold – on the street corner or from the virtual corners of the dark web.” A separate criminal complaint was also unsealed today, charging Irvin Hernandez with being a member of the same door-to-door drug delivery conspiracy. These first two counts relate to Hernandez’s alleged activities on the dark web starting in January 2013. To investigate the evolution of sentiment toward Bitcoin among DarkNet drug users, sentiment analysis, more precisely the VADER tool (Hutto and Gilbert, 2014), was used.
Step 6: Staying Safe
While buying drugs on the dark web can be done safely, it’s crucial to take precautions to protect yourself. Use a VPN to further anonymize your browsing, never give out personal information, and always conduct transactions using encrypted communication.
Dark web search engines exist, but even the best are challenged to keep up with the constantly shifting landscape. Even one of the best search engines, called Grams, returns results that are repetitive and often irrelevant to the query. Link lists like The Hidden Wiki are another option, but even indices also return a frustrating number of timed-out connections and 404 errors. Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) kits have been available on the dark web for several years, but those offerings have become far more dangerous with the rise of specialized criminal groups like REvil or GandCrab. These groups develop their own sophisticated malware, sometimes combined with pre-existing tools, and distribute them through “affiliates”. Like all of the investigators, Alford was determined to find the person behind Dread Pirate Roberts – so he used Google’s advanced search option for the earliest mentions of Silk Road.
Conclusion
Buying drugs on the dark web can be a convenient way to access substances that may not be readily available elsewhere. By following these steps and prioritizing your safety, you can navigate the dark web with confidence and discretion.
