Finally, we used natural language processing techniques to extract opioid trading information to characterize underground opioid commodities, suppliers, and transactions. First, an opioid trader, who intends to list the selling information and find potential customers, will first access the anonymous online marketplaces and forums, using an anonymous browsing tool such as a Tor client or a web-to-Tor proxy (step 1 in Figure 1) 5,6. Anonymous online marketplaces and forums usually operate as hidden Tor services, which can only be resolved through Tor (an anonymity network).
Want To Browse Anonymously?
Among those arrested were the operators behind the dark web username “MH4Life,” which the Department of Justice called the most prolific dark web fentanyl vendor in the US and the fourth most prolific in the world. Archetyp’s takedown might make headlines, but it won’t stop the trade of illicit drugs on the dark web. It should force us to think about where harm is really happening online and whether current strategies are looking in the wrong direction. Law enforcement shutdowns are also only one type of disruption that dark web communities face. Dark web market users routinely face voluntary closures (the gradual retirement of a market), exit scams (sudden closures of markets where any money in escrow is taken), or even scheduled maintenance of these markets.
Characteristics Of Suppliers
This shift will likely drive forum operators to introduce features like automated escrow services and enhanced anonymity to attract users. The Dark Web is a part of the internet that remains hidden from traditional search engines like Google or Bing. Unlike the surface web, which is easily accessible through standard web browsers, the dark web requires specialized software, such as the Tor browser, to access. Originally developed by the US Department of Defense for secure and anonymous communication, the dark web has since evolved into a complex network of websites and online communities that prioritize privacy and anonymity.
‘This Product Could Potentially Kill You’
Some researchers who study the dark web have found the quality of drugs available on these hidden websites is superior to that of drugs sold on the street. One theory of why that might be is that the online review system holds dealers accountable, says Rasmus Munksgaard, a Montreal researcher. The story of dark web marketplaces kicks off with Silk Road, launched in 2011. It was the first big site where people could anonymously buy drugs using Bitcoin, and it gained a lot of attention, until it was shut down by the FBI in 2013. When purchased on the dark web, drugs sold as MDMA (in both powder and pill form), cocaine and LSD were significantly more likely to contain the substance advertised.
Inside The Dark Web Drug Trade
Mercifully, the escrow system now largely keeps dealers from pulling these sorts of tricks (they don’t get paid until the product arrives, after all). Buying directly from an online dealer—as opposed to through one of the marketplaces—is generally inadvisable. There’s no escrow system when you do that and, therefore, no guarantee they’ll actually send you something. Brian, a writer, harm reduction supporter and avid drug consumer in his 60s, hasn’t ever bought directly from the dark web. Before the United Kingdom, where he lives, banned “legal highs” in 2016, he would purchase spice, mephedrone, kratom, salvia and psychedelics from specialty websites. He began doing this after the law cracked down on brick-and-mortar headshops.
Year In Review
- We have information about 500 cannabis prices from around 140 sellers in 18 countries.
- As Eurasian narco-DNMs continue to battle for market supremacy, the informed prognosis on the Russian dark web is a grim, especially for user safety, according to Telegram darknet chatter.
- It concludes that the internet-based cannabis market is characterised by monopolistic competition, where many sellers offer differentiated products with quality variation causing dispersion of cannabis prices.
- These outdated, extreme protocols are largely due to ignorance and lack of information.
- In particular, in the semantic comparison model, the size of the input layer was doubled while not expanding either the hidden or the output layer.
Between March 2021 and April 2022 the UK’s border force intercepted record amounts of cocaine and ketamine, with seizures of those drugs jumping 68 percent and 884 percent respectively. In April 2022 border police seized what was described as a “monumental” haul of 3.7 tonnes of cocaine valued at £300 million in crates of bananas at Southampton docks. From toilet paper to tomato sauce, Covid-19 has turned normal consumers into high-volume doomsday binge shoppers. So perhaps it’s no surprise that as they filled their pantries and supply closets in the early days of the pandemic, online buyers also stocked up on dark web weed. Geopolitical tensions will likely fuel the rise of hacktivism and ransomware in the Middle East. Hacktivist attacks have already evolved from denial-of-service operations to data leaks and critical compromises, a trend expected to grow.
Table Of Contents
The actors behind the possible attack on Blacksput threatened the administrators with the leakage of their identities, as well as to reveal sensitive operations between buyers and sellers. Likely, they used similar tactics, and were able to successfully phish some number of Blacksprut users. In both cases, this activity is coming from cybercriminal or semi-criminal elements, which are likely driven not just by their personal interest, but the direction from a third-party. Over the summer 2022, most of these new markets were primarily fighting for brand recognition, much like a ‘cyber-90s’ type of environment. Notably, a dominating number of actors moved from Hydra to other marketplaces, and started leveraging alternative digital channels – customized mobile apps and Instant Messengers (IM) including Telegram.
What Exactly Is Sold On These Marketplaces?
Killnet has attracted a lot of attention because of past DDOS attacks against NATO, U.S. law enforcement, and multiple EU government agencies during the peak of war in Ukraine. It is not clear if this group may be state-supported or solely driven by their ideological motivation, or perhaps artificially created by foreign governments considering ongoing geopolitical tensions. It is worth mentioning, another actor with the alias Wazawaka was presumably responsible for a similar attack against the now closed Hydra marketplace back in 2018. Still, the disruption of Hydra dealt a “huge blow“ to the ecosystem, according to multiple sources on the Dark Web.
They find that Spain and Sweden had the most prevalent use of sedatives, followed by Great Britain and Denmark. Germany had the lowest percentage of users in the population for both stimulants and sedatives. The work reports usage rates in EU countries slightly below those seen in the USA (20% lifetime usage vs between 7 and 13% in EU).
Power Your Insights With Data You Can Trust
We observed the same listings posted in different marketplaces and illustrate the dependency of the same opioid listings among different marketplaces. Note that we determined if 2 listings are identical by matching the same elements (ie, listing’s title and description information and the vendor’s name) in 2 listings. We observed that the marketplaces of Agora and Evolution shared 530 opioid listings from 290 unique supplier IDs.
Why Dark-Web Drug Marketplaces Can Be A Refuge
The dark web was built for anonymity and, as such, it’s often nearly impossible for buyers to know who they are transacting with or where their purchases are being sourced. Drugs may be adulterated, counterfeit, or possibly made by amateurs out of their homes using substandard equipment. These dangers exist on the surface web as well; however, without illicit marketplaces that have built-in escrow and rating systems, there may be a higher likelihood of nondelivery schemes and phishing scams from websites on the surface web. Either way, it can be extremely risky for anyone to attempt to purchase controlled substances or unapproved drugs from the internet. The shutdown of Archetyp, a major dark web drug market, demonstrates that law enforcement takedowns have only short-term effects, as such markets quickly re-emerge and adapt.
According to Europol’s 2025 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment report, nearly all forms of serious and organized crime now have a digital footprint. Criminals are leveraging the online domain to increase efficiency and maintain anonymity, and darknet markets are generating US$5–7.5 million in daily revenue. As observed in our data set, the opioid suppliers in the marketplaces Evolution, Pandora, and Silk Road accepted escrow as a method of payment. In fact, the shutdown of the marketplace Evolution was discovered to be an exit scam, with the site’s operators shutting down abruptly to steal the approximately US $12 million in bitcoins that it was holding as an escrow 39.
