5 ms·

Me and a friend setup a fake electronics store on the dark web and ended up making a lot of money when bitcoin spiked in value.

movedx 8y ago
Brutal.
- jrs95 8y ago
  Personally I don’t think scamming people who intend to buy stolen electronics is particularly unethical anyways. It’s sort of like...profitable vigilante justice.
  - Rjevski 8y ago
    Unless the electronics were branded as stolen I wouldn’t immediately assume malicious intent from the buyers. People might have all kinds of reasons buying those electronics anonymously - maybe there are no other channels to get them from (oppressive government restricting features like VoIP in iPhones, etc) in which case the “dark” web is the most logical place to go to get a clean device.
    - jrs95 8y ago
      They weren’t branded as such but the store(s) only existing on the deep web plus the incredibly low pricing made it obvious that these couldn’t have been obtained legitimately, if they were really selling anything at all and not just scamming people out of BTC. I highly doubt anyone capable of finding and using these sites could actually be dumb enough to believe it was anything other than stolen electronics (or a scam).
      - user5994461 8y ago
        The stolen or the oppressing government are not good arguments. It doesn't allow either party to buy or sell. We had the case of an ex student who opened a company selling electronics and mechanical parts. Some shipments were stopped at the border by the local equivalent of the NSA and the company received a visit shortly afterwards. Turns out that some stuff can be used to manufacture military equipment. That day, we learned that they take it pretty seriously and the onus is on you to prove that it's legit and going to a legitimate party.
        Rjevski 8y ago
        I don't really get how this relates to my point? All I was saying is that buying on the "dark web" is not always synonymous with bad intentions. I did not say it legally (I assume that's what you meant) allowed parties to trade, although I will say that it does physically allow parties to trade, as "dark" markets have been thriving for years now.
        user5994461 8y ago
        I meant to illustrate that dealing in physical goods is well defined and regulated, any trouble will have no regards for intentions or what is physically possible.
  - gremlinsinc 8y ago
    Would it then be 'ethical', to sell heroine on the dark web, and not deliver it? So you're essentially helping a drug addict get 'off' the drug? I'm surprised government agencies don't do something like that... Why try and 'catch' people, when they could flood the market with bogus/fake ads and just take people's money making the entire market not worth 2 cents?
AboutTheWhisles 8y ago
That's not programming, that's just fraud.

movedx 8y ago

Brutal.

jrs95 8y ago
Personally I don’t think scamming people who intend to buy stolen electronics is particularly unethical anyways. It’s sort of like...profitable vigilante justice.
- Rjevski 8y ago
  Unless the electronics were branded as stolen I wouldn’t immediately assume malicious intent from the buyers. People might have all kinds of reasons buying those electronics anonymously - maybe there are no other channels to get them from (oppressive government restricting features like VoIP in iPhones, etc) in which case the “dark” web is the most logical place to go to get a clean device.
  - jrs95 8y ago
    They weren’t branded as such but the store(s) only existing on the deep web plus the incredibly low pricing made it obvious that these couldn’t have been obtained legitimately, if they were really selling anything at all and not just scamming people out of BTC. I highly doubt anyone capable of finding and using these sites could actually be dumb enough to believe it was anything other than stolen electronics (or a scam).
    - user5994461 8y ago
      The stolen or the oppressing government are not good arguments. It doesn't allow either party to buy or sell. We had the case of an ex student who opened a company selling electronics and mechanical parts. Some shipments were stopped at the border by the local equivalent of the NSA and the company received a visit shortly afterwards. Turns out that some stuff can be used to manufacture military equipment. That day, we learned that they take it pretty seriously and the onus is on you to prove that it's legit and going to a legitimate party.
      - Rjevski 8y ago
        I don't really get how this relates to my point? All I was saying is that buying on the "dark web" is not always synonymous with bad intentions. I did not say it legally (I assume that's what you meant) allowed parties to trade, although I will say that it does physically allow parties to trade, as "dark" markets have been thriving for years now.
        user5994461 8y ago
        I meant to illustrate that dealing in physical goods is well defined and regulated, any trouble will have no regards for intentions or what is physically possible.
- gremlinsinc 8y ago
  Would it then be 'ethical', to sell heroine on the dark web, and not deliver it? So you're essentially helping a drug addict get 'off' the drug? I'm surprised government agencies don't do something like that... Why try and 'catch' people, when they could flood the market with bogus/fake ads and just take people's money making the entire market not worth 2 cents?

AboutTheWhisles 8y ago

That's not programming, that's just fraud.