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Drug Dealers Are Offering Black Friday Deals on the Dark Web

79 points by fludlight 7y ago

nickthegreek 7y ago
I guess it is a good time to ship a bunch of packages thru post offices that are already going to be at max capacity. Seems like it would lower the chance of them getting picked up.
- ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
  Counterpoint: There is also a higher chance of Post Offices losing your package, routing it to an incorrect address, or other holiday errors that would increase your risk. And just from the minimal Dark Web browsing I've done, it seems like post offices are really only searching packages when they already have some reason to be suspicious, like contact from law enforcement. Truly random checks seem like an extremely rare occurrence.
  - ne0flex 7y ago
    A friend of mine in Portland, Oregon once told me that a package turned up at his house. He noticed that the package wasn't addressed to him, but instead the return address on the package was his address. After taking the package inside, someone opened it and found that it was full of vacuum-sealed marijuana. A couple days later when he returned from work a post it note was left on his front door that said something along the lines of 'I think the post office got my address wrong and you may have received it, please call me.' He took the package and the note to the police. When they tried calling the number they got a message saying that number was out of service.
    - oliv__ 7y ago
      That's really not cool. For a few ounces of grass, come onnn
      - trehalose 7y ago
        He didn't go to the cops over a few ounces of grass. He went to the cops over an anonymous stranger framing him for multiple federal felonies! I strongly believe that nobody should be imprisoned for cannabis, but I still might very well go to the authorities if a stranger practically tried to get me imprisoned for theirs.
        tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        They probably just picked a random return address, it's not as if they are going to put their own address on the packet.
        trehalose 7y ago
        Well sure, but it's not as if framing a random stranger for multiple federal felonies is any better than framing a non-random stranger for them.
        tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        Yes, but "framing a stranger" implies some intent.
    - thejigisup 7y ago
      wow he actually snitched on the guy to the cops over weed? what a loser.
  - crispyporkbites 7y ago
    Can a post office generally open random packages under the guise of intercepting drugs? I would very much hope not.
    - riskneutral 7y ago
      Yes
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - buttcoinslol 7y ago
      It depends. First class mail needs probable cause and a warrant since it may be private correspondence [0] [0] https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/USPIS-FAQs.pdf https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/USPIS-FAQs....
    - iudqnolq 7y ago
      In general, first class letters that don't cross a national border and don't look like they contain something other than letter are safe from warrentless interception. Certainly packages have no such protections. FISA (post 9/11 "national security" authorizing legislation) adds some exceptions > Third, provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (“FISA”), as amended, 50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq., specifically authorize the Attorney General to conduct physical searches of mall without prior judicial authorization in certain circumstances. Section 304(e) of FISA, 50 U.S.C. § 1824(e), provides that the Attorney General, under certain circumstances, may approve the execution of an emergency physical search of property, including property that “is in transit to or from an agent of a foreign power or a foreign power,” id. § 1824(a)(3)(B), so long as the Attorney General subsequently obtains an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing the search... https://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-open-your-mail-without-a-warrant/ https://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-op...
      - ksaj 7y ago
        A lot of packages I receive from overseas are stamped with words to the effect of "Package may be opened and inspected" which is probably directly related to this clause, and also negating the need to get permission from the foreign courts. I'm guessing that is to speed things up in case they do want to inspect it. Likewise, I've received one package that was opened and inspected. It came in a clear plastic bag along with a very short note stating that it had been inspected in accordance to <whatever laws they were>. Senders probably don't usually stamp that on illegal shipments, and the post surely doesn't drop in a polite notification if they discover something illegal in there.
  - proverbialbunny 7y ago
    >it seems like post offices are really only searching packages when they already have some reason to be suspicious This is not the case. It's a very heavy ymmv sort of situation. Eg, a post office I lived close to would scan 1 in 10 packages of mail through an xray, including random letters. They had a system that would randomly select from the line. However, when it comes to USPS a warrent needs to be had to open the letter. Because of this if mail is caught with drugs in it, or suspected, from an x-ray, the mail suddenly gets "lost", because it's cheaper and easier than filing warrants all day. Especially given that the DEA cares about the seller far more than the buyer. If the package is large, but not like massively large, they might go out of their way to file a warrant and give a "love letter", where instead of the mail being delivered, instead a letter is delivered that says, "We know what you're up to. Knock it off." (paragraphrasing ofc) Because they want the seller, and because anyone can frame anyone else by mailing them drugs anonymously, I've not heard of a case where someone who has receiving drugs by mail who has gotten arrested, with two exceptions: 1) Massively large packages, like multiple huge boxes or barrels worth. 2) I have seen a falling out where someones friend reported them for buying drugs online, and an arrest was carried out then, but due to the potential for abuse, the DEA leaves the buyers alone.
tempsy 7y ago
Is this actually newsworthy? If you’re going to buy drugs the darkweb is almost surely safer (as in more likely to be getting what you ask for) than buying it from some random person in your neighborhood.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  How exactly? This makes no sense to me.
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    Having a package arrive discretely is arguably safer than the in person interaction with a dealer. Also, you don't get repeat customers if you kill them, so online procured products are usually of a quality high enough you will be a repeat customer (and not die).
    - dudus 7y ago
      I think you vastly overestimate the business acumen of drug dealers on the darkweb. You are much more likely to never receive a shipment than to bump into someone worried about repeat customers
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - toomuchtodo 7y ago
        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/11466413/What-dark-net-drug-buyers-say-about-their-dealers.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/11466413/Wha... (What 'dark net' drug buyers say about their dealers, March 2015) > Third, people who use Silk Road 2.0 are very happy punters. The average score out of 5 left by drug user on the site of was an impressive 4.85. > This is the most important thing of all. Because it offers competition and choice, the power here is in the hands of the buyer rather than the vendor. Drug dealers on these markets are very polite and attentive – desperate for a positive review because anything else would damage business. I emailed a number of vendors during my research and all were extremely helpful. As you can see from this Wordle, ‘great’ ‘fast’ and ‘good’ are the most common words left on the written feedback section. There are a lot of happy users out there. Markets really do work!
hashkb 7y ago
Fun story but this isn't really news. Sales is sales. All sales tricks are a bit, well, tricky; marketers are trying to convince us to buy things we might not. At least with drugs people already want them.
chadlavi 7y ago
Drug dealers have always had holiday specials. Or so I've heard.
1996 7y ago
TLDR: people who do things you don't approve still share the same culture you do, live in the same world, and celebrate like you do. Because they are human too
tayo42 7y ago
Thought the darknet was in abit of chaos at the moment?
- Ftuuky 7y ago
  Why do you think that?
  - tayo42 7y ago
    Thought some of the popular markets are down, dread is down
    - Ftuuky 7y ago
      Oh wow, I wasn't aware dread is down.
      - DarthGhandi 7y ago
        It's very much a target of certain nation states for ddos, which is apparently ok when the police do it, the ones with the eyes have a strange hypocrisy about drugs given the evidence of vastly improved safety from the darknet vendors. Then again they always have.
        SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
        Governments tend to indulge in hypocrisy as standard operating practice. They also reserve the right to kill people and confiscate property because, as much as the average person might find comfort in order, legislation and institutions, the reality of the world is you can do whatever you want unless someone can stop you, and there are not a lot of people or organisations that can stop a government.
  - bduerst 7y ago
    Markets have been dropping like flies to law enforcement and DDOS extortion. Nobody is entirely certain what to trust.
herlitzj 7y ago
Shouldn't this be Cyber Monday? Or are these bricks and mortar dealers?
buttcoinslol 7y ago
Has anyone commenting ever actually bought or sold drugs before? Every single dealer or customer I've ever met has been through someone else, or someone I knew. There's relationships and trust vouching, just like any business. Credit is extended, and paid back. Transactions generally occur in homes or cars. The comments here are acting like all real world drug market transactions occur between strangers, which is so far removed from the truth we might as well be talking about something else. A good way to describe selling weed is 'the only MLM where people actually want what you're selling'
- quaquaqua1 7y ago
  A former friend of mine who is now in prison for possession of heroin used to buy heroin from The Silk Road as if it was Amazon, just pick any listing and hope for the best. He wasn't busted via Silk Road btw, he was just busted when he was pulled over in his car with it. No need for sophisticated hacking when you can just nab them for any hallucinated traffic violation
  - yabadabadoes 7y ago
    > No need for sophisticated hacking when you can just nab them for any hallucinated traffic violation Perhaps both were involved. Never put down to chance what can be explained by parallel construction..
- partyboat1586 7y ago
  Where I live (big city) there are numbers you can text and it's a different guy every time. It's like ordering pizza except you get in their car for the transaction. You are usually waiting 20min at most. The whole operation is eerily professional. Back in my home town it was a guy you knew who may or may not be around or that other guy your friend knew who's house you could swing by. For weed in particular you tend to get more of the small town style dealers even in big cities just cos it's nice and people are used to it but for hard drugs people don't care, they want their drugs in the most convenient way possible.
  - 7y ago
DonHopkins 7y ago
Is this a narco-submarine article? http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine
csteubs 7y ago
This has been happening for years. The deals some vendors offer on weed leading up to 4/20 have always been jaw dropping.

79 points by fludlight 7y ago

I guess it is a good time to ship a bunch of packages thru post offices that are already going to be at max capacity. Seems like it would lower the chance of them getting picked up.

ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
Counterpoint: There is also a higher chance of Post Offices losing your package, routing it to an incorrect address, or other holiday errors that would increase your risk. And just from the minimal Dark Web browsing I've done, it seems like post offices are really only searching packages when they already have some reason to be suspicious, like contact from law enforcement. Truly random checks seem like an extremely rare occurrence.
- ne0flex 7y ago
  A friend of mine in Portland, Oregon once told me that a package turned up at his house. He noticed that the package wasn't addressed to him, but instead the return address on the package was his address. After taking the package inside, someone opened it and found that it was full of vacuum-sealed marijuana. A couple days later when he returned from work a post it note was left on his front door that said something along the lines of 'I think the post office got my address wrong and you may have received it, please call me.' He took the package and the note to the police. When they tried calling the number they got a message saying that number was out of service.
  - oliv__ 7y ago
    That's really not cool. For a few ounces of grass, come onnn
    - trehalose 7y ago
      He didn't go to the cops over a few ounces of grass. He went to the cops over an anonymous stranger framing him for multiple federal felonies! I strongly believe that nobody should be imprisoned for cannabis, but I still might very well go to the authorities if a stranger practically tried to get me imprisoned for theirs.
      - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        They probably just picked a random return address, it's not as if they are going to put their own address on the packet.
        trehalose 7y ago
        Well sure, but it's not as if framing a random stranger for multiple federal felonies is any better than framing a non-random stranger for them.
        tonyedgecombe 7y ago
        Yes, but "framing a stranger" implies some intent.
  - thejigisup 7y ago
    wow he actually snitched on the guy to the cops over weed? what a loser.
- crispyporkbites 7y ago
  Can a post office generally open random packages under the guise of intercepting drugs? I would very much hope not.
  - riskneutral 7y ago
    Yes
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - buttcoinslol 7y ago
    It depends. First class mail needs probable cause and a warrant since it may be private correspondence [0] [0] https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/USPIS-FAQs.pdf https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/USPIS-FAQs....
  - iudqnolq 7y ago
    In general, first class letters that don't cross a national border and don't look like they contain something other than letter are safe from warrentless interception. Certainly packages have no such protections. FISA (post 9/11 "national security" authorizing legislation) adds some exceptions > Third, provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (“FISA”), as amended, 50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq., specifically authorize the Attorney General to conduct physical searches of mall without prior judicial authorization in certain circumstances. Section 304(e) of FISA, 50 U.S.C. § 1824(e), provides that the Attorney General, under certain circumstances, may approve the execution of an emergency physical search of property, including property that “is in transit to or from an agent of a foreign power or a foreign power,” id. § 1824(a)(3)(B), so long as the Attorney General subsequently obtains an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing the search... https://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-open-your-mail-without-a-warrant/ https://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-op...
    - ksaj 7y ago
      A lot of packages I receive from overseas are stamped with words to the effect of "Package may be opened and inspected" which is probably directly related to this clause, and also negating the need to get permission from the foreign courts. I'm guessing that is to speed things up in case they do want to inspect it. Likewise, I've received one package that was opened and inspected. It came in a clear plastic bag along with a very short note stating that it had been inspected in accordance to <whatever laws they were>. Senders probably don't usually stamp that on illegal shipments, and the post surely doesn't drop in a polite notification if they discover something illegal in there.
- proverbialbunny 7y ago
  >it seems like post offices are really only searching packages when they already have some reason to be suspicious This is not the case. It's a very heavy ymmv sort of situation. Eg, a post office I lived close to would scan 1 in 10 packages of mail through an xray, including random letters. They had a system that would randomly select from the line. However, when it comes to USPS a warrent needs to be had to open the letter. Because of this if mail is caught with drugs in it, or suspected, from an x-ray, the mail suddenly gets "lost", because it's cheaper and easier than filing warrants all day. Especially given that the DEA cares about the seller far more than the buyer. If the package is large, but not like massively large, they might go out of their way to file a warrant and give a "love letter", where instead of the mail being delivered, instead a letter is delivered that says, "We know what you're up to. Knock it off." (paragraphrasing ofc) Because they want the seller, and because anyone can frame anyone else by mailing them drugs anonymously, I've not heard of a case where someone who has receiving drugs by mail who has gotten arrested, with two exceptions: 1) Massively large packages, like multiple huge boxes or barrels worth. 2) I have seen a falling out where someones friend reported them for buying drugs online, and an arrest was carried out then, but due to the potential for abuse, the DEA leaves the buyers alone.

tempsy 7y ago

Is this actually newsworthy? If you’re going to buy drugs the darkweb is almost surely safer (as in more likely to be getting what you ask for) than buying it from some random person in your neighborhood.

save_ferris 7y ago
How exactly? This makes no sense to me.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  Having a package arrive discretely is arguably safer than the in person interaction with a dealer. Also, you don't get repeat customers if you kill them, so online procured products are usually of a quality high enough you will be a repeat customer (and not die).
  - dudus 7y ago
    I think you vastly overestimate the business acumen of drug dealers on the darkweb. You are much more likely to never receive a shipment than to bump into someone worried about repeat customers
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - toomuchtodo 7y ago
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/11466413/What-dark-net-drug-buyers-say-about-their-dealers.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/11466413/Wha... (What 'dark net' drug buyers say about their dealers, March 2015) > Third, people who use Silk Road 2.0 are very happy punters. The average score out of 5 left by drug user on the site of was an impressive 4.85. > This is the most important thing of all. Because it offers competition and choice, the power here is in the hands of the buyer rather than the vendor. Drug dealers on these markets are very polite and attentive – desperate for a positive review because anything else would damage business. I emailed a number of vendors during my research and all were extremely helpful. As you can see from this Wordle, ‘great’ ‘fast’ and ‘good’ are the most common words left on the written feedback section. There are a lot of happy users out there. Markets really do work!

hashkb 7y ago

Fun story but this isn't really news. Sales is sales. All sales tricks are a bit, well, tricky; marketers are trying to convince us to buy things we might not. At least with drugs people already want them.

chadlavi 7y ago

Drug dealers have always had holiday specials. Or so I've heard.

1996 7y ago

TLDR: people who do things you don't approve still share the same culture you do, live in the same world, and celebrate like you do. Because they are human too

tayo42 7y ago

Thought the darknet was in abit of chaos at the moment?

Ftuuky 7y ago
Why do you think that?
- tayo42 7y ago
  Thought some of the popular markets are down, dread is down
  - Ftuuky 7y ago
    Oh wow, I wasn't aware dread is down.
    - DarthGhandi 7y ago
      It's very much a target of certain nation states for ddos, which is apparently ok when the police do it, the ones with the eyes have a strange hypocrisy about drugs given the evidence of vastly improved safety from the darknet vendors. Then again they always have.
      - SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
        Governments tend to indulge in hypocrisy as standard operating practice. They also reserve the right to kill people and confiscate property because, as much as the average person might find comfort in order, legislation and institutions, the reality of the world is you can do whatever you want unless someone can stop you, and there are not a lot of people or organisations that can stop a government.
- bduerst 7y ago
  Markets have been dropping like flies to law enforcement and DDOS extortion. Nobody is entirely certain what to trust.

herlitzj 7y ago

Shouldn't this be Cyber Monday? Or are these bricks and mortar dealers?

buttcoinslol 7y ago

Has anyone commenting ever actually bought or sold drugs before? Every single dealer or customer I've ever met has been through someone else, or someone I knew. There's relationships and trust vouching, just like any business. Credit is extended, and paid back. Transactions generally occur in homes or cars. The comments here are acting like all real world drug market transactions occur between strangers, which is so far removed from the truth we might as well be talking about something else. A good way to describe selling weed is 'the only MLM where people actually want what you're selling'

quaquaqua1 7y ago
A former friend of mine who is now in prison for possession of heroin used to buy heroin from The Silk Road as if it was Amazon, just pick any listing and hope for the best. He wasn't busted via Silk Road btw, he was just busted when he was pulled over in his car with it. No need for sophisticated hacking when you can just nab them for any hallucinated traffic violation
- yabadabadoes 7y ago
  > No need for sophisticated hacking when you can just nab them for any hallucinated traffic violation Perhaps both were involved. Never put down to chance what can be explained by parallel construction..
partyboat1586 7y ago
Where I live (big city) there are numbers you can text and it's a different guy every time. It's like ordering pizza except you get in their car for the transaction. You are usually waiting 20min at most. The whole operation is eerily professional. Back in my home town it was a guy you knew who may or may not be around or that other guy your friend knew who's house you could swing by. For weed in particular you tend to get more of the small town style dealers even in big cities just cos it's nice and people are used to it but for hard drugs people don't care, they want their drugs in the most convenient way possible.
- 7y ago

DonHopkins 7y ago

Is this a narco-submarine article? http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine

csteubs 7y ago

This has been happening for years. The deals some vendors offer on weed leading up to 4/20 have always been jaw dropping.