Drugs, Guns And Crypto Seized, 288 Arrested, In ‘unprecedented’ Dark Web Crackdown
Understanding the Cost of Drugs on the Dark Web
Is It Easy To Buy Drugs On The Dark Web?
Again, not all the dark web is used for illicit purposes despite its ominous-sounding name. Many people who use drugs regularly do not think that far ahead, especially in terms of how long their stash is going to last. The majority of people who are actively using drugs need to resupply daily and do not want to go through the hassle of having to wait for a package in the mail. Furthermore, we find that cannabis prices are affected by quality, as measured by the success of the particular cannabis strain in the Cannabis Cup. We find that higher electricity prices are indeed reflected in cannabis prices.
Vendors in the Netherlands, a substantial source country for cannabis, MDMA-type products, cocaines, methamphetamine and opioids, seem to shun trade across all three of these product groups. His crimes included selling cocaine, crystal meth, fentanyl-laced Percocet pills, and other drugs. He used vendor accounts on the dark web’s Empire Market, Yellow Brick Road, and White House Market. He received the orders online, collected bitcoin payments, and mailed the illegal drugs to buyers, concealed inside candles. Like drug of abuse, the products purchased via online drug sales are extremely dangerous.
The dark web has gained notoriety for facilitating the purchase of various illicit substances. With the rise of cryptocurrencies and anonymous browsing tools, many individuals are curious about how much are drugs on the dark web. The prices can vary significantly depending on several factors, including the type of substance, its purity, and the vendor’s reputation.
“Man, you can order anything off the internet,” Allawi once told a friend. Although no platform has emerged as the “go-to” DNM yet in the wake of White House Market’s demise, cannabis, meth, and cocaine vendors on WHM flooded Dread (a dark web Reddit-like forum) to announce whether their buyers can find them now. In his sign-off message, mr_white himself plugged Versus and Monopoly (two smaller DNMs) as secure successors for White House Market’s user base to adopt, also encouraging users to give new platforms a chance.
To overcome this issue, we selected a population whose members have characteristics that help them place themselves in fictitious purchasing situations on the darknet. This projective (third-person) technique can help when respondents do not want to reveal their real attitudes about something (Kumar et al., 2018) and has already been applied in cyber criminology (Parti et al., 2018). This approach lets us compile a sample that is large enough to perform multivariate statistical analysis to explore trust factors behind purchasing decisions of (potential) DNM customers. Anonymity and encryption are the main factors contributing to the operation of drug trafficking on darknet markets, according to a number of previous studies. Examining the differences between the role of the related factors in legal and illegal purchases can help us understand the operation of illegal drug purchases. According to court documents, Banmeet Singh, 40, of Haldwani, India, created vendor marketing sites on dark web marketplaces, such as Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa, and others, to sell controlled substances, including fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, Ketamine, and Tramadol.
The baseline model was applied directly to the labeled data (Table 3) and evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation. We used the metrics of precision and recall to compare the performance of different topic modeling methods. As shown in Table 4, our results indicate that our approach significantly outperforms MALLET and the baseline model in terms of both precision and average recall. Our goal here was to identify anonymous forum posts with the topics of opioid commodity promotion (eg, listing promotion) and review (eg, report fake opioid vendors). We then analyzed these forum posts to profile underground opioid trading behaviors.
Factors Influencing Prices
We found that 182 opioid supplier IDs appeared in both the marketplaces Evolution and Agora from January 2014 to July 2015. In particular, we observed that 84 opioid supplier IDs synchronized similar product listings in both marketplaces at the same time. This might be because the suppliers tend to promote their products across various marketplaces and to increase sales. We trained the semantic comparison model using the traces of Reddit as the benign corpora and the traces of the anonymous marketplaces/forums as the underground corpora. Thus, we identified 58 opioid jargon used in the anonymous marketplaces and forums (Table 2). Combining opioid jargon with known opioid product names [25-27], we generated an opioid keyword data set consisting of 311 opioid keywords with 13 categories.
“As alleged, Edison Hernandez went to great lengths to conceal his identity so he could send thousands of packages containing dangerous drugs throughout the country and team up with his co-conspirators to deliver them door-to-door in New York City,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Hiding behind the dark web, encryption services, or BitCoin will not stop this Office from rooting out those who flood our communities with illegal and hazardous narcotics.” Ms Aldridge points to “doxxing”—the release of personal details online—as one. An aggrieved (or opportunistic) vendor who thinks a customer’s review was unfair may publish the delivery address or threaten blackmail.
Several factors can impact the cost of drugs on the dark web:
- Type of Drug: Different substances have varying market prices. For instance, heroin might be cheaper than LSD or cocaine.
- Purity and Quality: Higher purity drugs typically come at a premium. Users are often willing to pay more for substances that are known to be potent.
- Vendor Reputation: Established vendors with positive reviews may charge more due to their reliability and quality assurance.
- Geographic Location: Prices can also vary based on the seller’s location and the delivery method used.
- Market Demand: Fluctuations in demand can lead to price changes. For example, a surge in interest for a specific substance may drive up its price.
Typical Price Ranges
- The nature of the dark net forces even municipal police officers to work globally to trace shipments and financial transactions.
- Ian Hoffmann, 44, of Bell Canyon, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine.
- The UNODC World Drug Report 2021 calls for even more public-private partnerships to take down these criminals.
- The ease with which people can buy large quantities of drugs is creating a system with mid-level drug dealers, said Dr. Miotto, who discussed the Dark Web at the recent California Society of Addiction Medicine annual meeting.
While prices can vary, here is a general overview of typical costs:
- Marijuana: $100 – $300 per ounce
- Cocaine: $60 – $120 per gram
- Heroin: $80 – $120 per gram
- LSD: $5 – $20 per tab
- MDMA: $20 – $40 per tablet
Risks of Buying Drugs on the Dark Web
Engaging in trades for drugs on the dark web comes with significant risks, including:
- Legal Consequences: Purchasing illegal substances could lead to criminal charges.
- Scams: There is a risk of losing money on fraudulent orders or receiving substandard products.
- Health Risks: The purity and composition of the drugs cannot be verified, leading to potential overdose or adverse reactions.
- Security Breaches: Personal information could be compromised in the course of a transaction.
FAQs
1. Are prices on the dark web lower than street prices?
In some cases, yes, but it varies. While some drugs may be cheaper, others might actually be more expensive due to demand, shipping fees, and vendor reputation.
2. How do I know if a drug is pure?
Without reliable methods of testing, buyers cannot be certain about the purity of a drug purchased on the dark web. This is one of the significant risks associated with such transactions.
3. Is it safe to buy drugs on the dark web?
No purchase on the dark web is completely safe. The risks include legal trouble, health hazards, and exposure to scams.
Understanding how much are drugs on the dark web involves much more than merely knowing prices. It encompasses recognizing the potential dangers, making informed decisions, and considering the legal implications of such actions.
