11 May The dark web’s drug trade
Darknet, or Deep Web markets have surged in popularity in the past few years, providing many with near-unrestricted access to drugs and other illicit goods. But how exactly are these trades done, and what is the effect on those who buy from them?
With a nefarious name like the ‘dark net’, it is no wonder that the exact nature of the so-called ‘hidden internet’ is still mysterious to many. The moniker itself conjures an image of a shadowy underworld populated solely by criminals or other lawbreakers. Because of this and the overall obscure nature of the darknet, it is no wonder that there are many urban legends and myths floating around of pedophile rings, hitmen-for-hire, and political extremist forums.
While there are some truths to these stories, the fact remains that sites hosting more-than-questionable material can also be found on the regular internet, or the “clearnet”, as well, such as jihadist forums, or websites selling prescription-only medicines.
However, the darknet has legitimate uses as well. Various journalistic publications operate ‘drop boxes’ on the darknet, to ensure that their sources are protected when submitting sensitive information to them. Citizens from countries with heavily restrictive internet filters, such as China, congregate on darknet forums to freely discuss amongst themselves. But there is no denying the popularity of darknet markets – marketplaces where drugs, weapons and personal information are just a few of the categories on offer.
Black markets may sound like stuff of spycraft and thrillers, but they are closer than one might think. The only piece of software required to access the darknet itself is the Tor browser. Tor – short for The Onion Router – bounces the user’s connection through relays, or ‘nodes’ located all around the world. Visiting any darknet site via Tor will take the users connection through around seven or eight relays in various countries, rather than a direct connection to the page in question. This makes monitoring Tor connections incredibly difficult for law enforcement, unless they can intercept both the entry and exit relays for a specific user. Because of this, many privacy-conscious internet users opt for Tor instead of a regular browser, even for day-to-day, regular internet browsing.
The markets in question have exploded in popularity ever since the very first such marketplace, The Silk Road, was shut down in 2013. The administrator of The Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht (better known by his handle of Dread Pirate Roberts), was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, and the FBI seized over $3 million worth of Bitcoin – the cryptocurrency used on the darknet. The media coverage surrounding the trial directed a surge of attention towards the prospect of drug trade online – RAND, a European research institution, estimates that there are now around 50 similar marketplaces in existence.
Once the markets became better known, so did the methods of accessing and trading on them. Links for specific Tor addresses are only a few Google searches away, but actually purchasing from these markets is another step entirely.
Perhaps the most well-known resource for those looking to partake is a darknet markets sub-forum on Reddit, a popular social media site. Nearly 140,000 users share vendor reviews, security tips and general questions around the topic, in open view for anyone to see. In fact, the site has run into trouble with American federal authorities, like the DHS, who have requested for identifying information on specific users before. Perhaps rightfully, many users assume that at any given moment on this forum, they are being monitored.
The forum also hosts a general overview of what is needed to trade on the markets. While Tor is sufficient to gain access to a marketplace like AlphaBay, for example, other solutions are also required to safely trade. A key piece of software in staying anonymous is Tails – an operating system that runs from an external drive, thus only being present in the RAM of a computer. When a computer is switched off, anything on the RAM is cleared, thus Tails will not leave any sort of digital footprint on the machine, unless specifically instructed to. Therefore, it is understandable why this method of connecting to the dark web is preferable to using something like Windows, for example.
Once safely connected, users can browse the categories on offer. While drugs are by far the most popular product on the markets, they are far from the only offering. AlphaBay, currently the most popular darknet market, hosts categories ranging from credit card details and personal information to refund services for online retailers and malware. The site has around 240,000 listings for drugs, which are all neatly organized by type – cannabis, benzodiazepines and various psychedelics are just a few of those.
Purchasing is usually done via Bitcoin, the aforementioned cryptocurrency. The currency is decentralized by design, using a collaborative central ledger to verify transactions. As the Reddit forum recommends, the Bitcoin should be handled properly, ensuring transactions stay anonymous, which is what makes it popular for purchases of this type. It is also worth noting that many regular retailers accept Bitcoin, ever since the currency became known in the mainstream – it’s usage is not limited to illicit activities. A single Bitcoin is currently worth around $1800, but Bitcoin are divisible by up to eight decimal places, often making it more flexible than conventional currency.
Sellers and buyers usually communicate via PGP-encrypted messages – in fact some markets demand that all correspondence is to be encrypted. This makes sense, considering that sensitive information, such as names and addresses are exchanged daily. Cryptography is not exactly an accessible subject, but simply put, PGP works with a pair of encryption keys – in this system, each user has an encryption key that is publicly known and a private key that is known only to that user. The sender encrypts a message sent to someone else using their public key. When they receive it, they decrypt it using their private key.
Like any other online marketplace, products bought on the dark web are sent via mail, in which often lies the biggest hurdle for buyers and law enforcement alike. International packages may be seized by customs, at which point the addressee of the package will receive what is known in the community as a ‘love letter’ – a notice that the shipment has been seized, and whether any further action will be taken against them. A larger quantity of drugs may prompt a ‘controlled delivery’ by police – upon signing for their ‘package’, the recipient gives cause to have their home to be searched by the police officers waiting nearby.
Naturally, one might think what steps are being taken by mail services. As a BBC Newsbeat investigation showed, postal workers are completely unaware that they may be accomplices to a crime. A Royal Mail spokesperson commented on the matter, saying:
“Royal Mail understands the tremendous harm that illegal drugs cause in the community. We work closely on the ground with law enforcement agencies, including the police for domestic mail and with Border Force for international mail. These agencies help us to stop the carriage and delivery of illegal drugs that are ordered on the Dark Web.”
They also stated that they have worked “closely” with the Border Force, who use x-ray screening and sniffer dogs for suspected packages.
“We also encourage our postmen and women to report to their managers any suspicious items which we then promptly refer to the authorities. In the past year, our staff made more than 800 reports to law enforcement agencies around suspected drugs in the post.”
But what about those ordering the drugs? Luke (a pseudonym), a 20-year-old student, spoke about his experience living in a home where drugs would sometimes turn up, ordered by his housemates.
“I haven’t used it myself – the only controlled drug that I’ve bought was Modafinil [a stimulant often used to boost concentration] from a regular website. But in my second year I began smoking weed pretty much daily, because how readily we had it. It didn’t interrupt my studies, but my trust in my own willpower is not nearly as high as it was.”
However, Luke was keen on trying out darknet markets in the future, though he fears being unable to kick the habit should he start buying regularly. He likened it to his previous experiences with quitting smoking:
“It’s kind of like the situation where I’m trying to quit smoking, but I’ve had a bag of tobacco on me pretty much all the time, and I’d just start smoking again. The easy access is nice, but it’s obviously dangerous.”
Most who buy online are usually not caught if they order in small quantities. Gavin (also a pseudonym), a 24-year-old currently employed in retail, used the darknet to buy psychedelics, such as LSD. He has since quit, commenting that he “got out early”:
“Tor and all that sort of stuff is well publicised these days – I wouldn’t risk it again.”
He commented on the expediency of the whole process, saying that it usually only took “a few days” to receive his order, though on a few occasions he had to wait a lot longer.
Despite the rather elaborate security steps recommended by the Reddit forum, he didn’t take all of them.
“At the time, I was living with a friend who had Bitcoin handy and we didn’t know about all of this stuff, to be honest.” Though he isn’t worried about being caught for past orders, now having quit buying drugs online.
What did trouble him was the ease of access. Gavin realized that many much more addictive substances were being sold just a click away from his usual choice.
“It turned the little ‘trips’ we had every now and then into an actual possibility for addiction.”
Gavin is most likely right – the authorities are definitely beginning to take notice. While the UK’s National Crime Agency may have been unavailable for comment on the matter, law enforcement agencies around the world have begun cooperating in joint operations in order to combat this trade. Police in the Netherlands recently taken over one such marketplace, replacing it with a warning that any potential users “have their attention”. The markets may still be covert in their nature, but the knowledge surrounding them is beginning to be much less so, prompting any potential users to examine the risks more carefully than before.
