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. The result of this fallout is a significant fragmentation of darknet marketplaces, with smaller, specialized sites emerging to fill the void left by the collapsing giants. As major players tear each other apart, new, niche markets are carving out their own territories, often with a sharp focus on specific categories of illicit goods. Unlike the traditional drugs marketplace, there isn’t a commonly used template for drug listings published on Telegram. There are dozens of drug-related dark marketplaces with thousands of users (vendors and buyers) that operate on them. According to our data, 92.8% of the drug-related activity in marketplaces is operated in English, followed by German (4.7%), French (2.2%), and Italian (1.2%).operated in English, followed by German (4.7%), French (2.2%), and Italian (1.2%).
- Though the wild days of dark web sites like Silk Road are long gone, there remain many profitable illicit stores across the internet.
- Others are looking for stolen data, hacking services, or even banned books and political content.
- These new niche sites are focused on specific illicit goods, offering enhanced security and a more targeted environment for buyers and sellers.
- Over the summer 2022, most of these new markets were primarily fighting for brand recognition, much like a ‘cyber-90s’ type of environment.
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Also identified were several notable sellers who migrated to Kraken from the now closed Hydra marketplace. These users have authored nearly 242,000 posts which are dispersed across 11,303 topics. With nearly 292,000 members, RuTor is the largest DNM on the Russian-speaking dark web. The forum statistics panel also notes how the forum hosts over 2.2 million user posts scattered across 37,310 unique topics to date. Rival DNMs then began launching ‘black PR’ campaigns against one another, they even resorted to DDoSing each other during last summer, with competitors disrupting OMG! On one side, allegedly RuTor operators hacked its largest competitor, WayAway.
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Threat actors have begun developing proprietary mobile apps allowing buyers and sellers of illegal goods to communicate in close to real-time mode, as well as transmitting information about “packages” with delivered drugs via alternative digital channels. This process is accelerated by the availability of Instant Messengers (IMs) and Automated Bots which allow the distribution of information across available digital channels with relatively high levels of anonymity. Resecurity expects mobile communication channels and mobile apps to soon replace traditional underground communities, forums, and marketplaces in order to facilitate quick information exchanges between Dark Web actors. It is expected new marketplaces will emerge in 2023 (like the recently launched Kraken) to expand influence. The key 10 marketplaces outlined in this report will continue to keep fighting for market monopolization. As outlined in the report, geopolitics and drug trafficking have become inextricably linked, that’s why the volume of shadow economy in the Dark Web will remain to grow and accelerated by ongoing tensions.
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This may change because of changes made to Telegram’s privacy policy and other events following the founder, Pavel Durov’s arrest in 2024. KEY TAKEAWAYS The Deep and the Dark web are the hidden part of the internet. To remain anonymous about your purchases on the dark web, always use cryptocurrency as your mode of payment. If a seller encourages you to opt for other well-known and commonly used payment methods, then the person is likely to be a scammer, and you must not make any deal with them.
Topics And Products Sold
North America, Northern Europe and Western Europe are also major consumer hubs. According to the latest Index, North America’s average drug trade score rose by 0.13 points, while the scores for Northern Europe and Western Europe increased by 0.31 and 0.27, respectively. Emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, such as China, Vietnam and Venezuela, are also becoming more involved in drug purchasing and, to some extent, manufacturing.
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Buyers rated the sellers and their products on a five-star rating system, and the vendors’ ratings and reviews were prominently displayed on the Hydra site. The investigators identified the suspects (many behind thousands of sales on illicit online marketplaces) using intelligence collected following takedowns of multiple dark web markets, including Nemesis, Bohemia, Tor2Door, and Kingdom Market. Operation Deep Sentinel is the latest international law enforcement collaboration against cybercrime, shutting down Archetyp – one of the largest dark web drug marketplaces. Last week, one of the dark web’s most prominent drug marketplaces – Archetyp – was shut down in an international, multi-agency law enforcement operation following years of investigations. It was touted as a major policing win and was accompanied by a slick cyberpunk-themed video.
Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Parsarad for his role as the administrator of Nemesis Market. According to OFAC, Nemesis Market facilitated the sale of nearly $30 million worth of drugs between 2021 and 2024. According to the indictment, Parsarad, 36, of Tehran, launched Nemesis Market on the dark web in March 2021. At its peak, Nemesis Market had over 150,000 users and more than 1,100 vendor accounts registered worldwide. Of these, more than 55,000 orders were categorized as orders for stimulants, including methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaine base (crack cocaine), and other controlled substances.
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‘Small retail’ sales accounted for just 18.9%, with ‘social supply’ making up the remaining 11.4%. Archetyp launched in May 2020 and quickly grew to become one of the most popular dark web markets with an estimated total transaction volume of €250 million (A$446 million). It had more than 600,000 users worldwide and 17,000 listings consisting mainly of illicit drugs including MDMA, cocaine and methamphetamine. As large platforms face disruption from law enforcement action, dark web infighting, and an influx of users from Telegram, there’s a growing shift toward smaller, more specialized marketplaces.
For a local machine configuration, he recommends a computer purchased for cash running Linux, using a local Tor transparent proxy. For operations security he suggests avoiding storing conversation logs, varying writing styles, avoiding mobile phone-based tracking and leaking false personal details to further obfuscate one’s identity. The months and years after Silk Road’s closure were marked by a greatly increased number of shorter-lived markets as well as semi-regular law enforcement takedowns, hacks, scams and voluntary closures. Such signatures are intended to confirm that vendors still have access to their accounts and have not been arrested or compromised.
At publishing time there is no indication that Abacus has been taken down by law enforcement but this scenario is not to be ruled out yet. Considering Monero transactions, the researchers estimate that total sales on Abacus were likely closer to at least $300 million. The best month for the darkweb market was this June, when the value of brokered sales peaked at $6.3 million. TRM Labs reports that the market had enabled transactions of nearly $100 million worth of Bitcoin but the figure does not include Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency, which requires special conditions to track and accounts for at least two-thirds of all transactions on Abacus. Historically, there have been “silent” takedowns that weren’t accompanied by announcements from the authorities, to allow investigations to continue unobstructed and gather more incriminating evidence or identify accomplices.
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Code named Deep Sentinel, the operation was the latest in a series of strikes by European authorities against high-volume dark web markets. Led by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) with support from the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, the operation extended to Spain, Sweden and Romania. Authorities seized Archetyp’s back-end servers in the Netherlands, froze €7.8 million in assets and arrested eight suspects, including a 30-year-old German national believed to be the platform’s founder. Archetyp had more than 17,000 listings at the time of its takedown from around 3,200 registered vendors, and was one of the few marketplaces of its kind that allowed the sale of fentanyl. The scale of its operation puts it on a similar level to the dark web’s previous marketplace monopolizers such as Dream and Silk Road. Called Huione Guarantee, it provides scammers with personal data and tools to perpetrate their frauds.
Between 11 and 13 June, a series of coordinated actions took place across Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key vendors, and technical infrastructure. Around 300 officers were deployed to carry out enforcement actions and secure critical evidence. Law enforcement authorities across Europe have dismantled Archetyp Market, the most enduring dark web drug market, following a large-scale operation involving six countries, supported by Europol and Eurojust. Archetyp’s takedown might make headlines, but it won’t stop the trade of illicit drugs on the dark web.
