4 ms·

A friend of mine recently showed me an instagram account that sold magic mushrooms. To place an order, you had to friend the account and send them a DM with a s

A friend of mine recently showed me an instagram account that sold magic mushrooms. To place an order, you had to friend the account and send them a DM with a specific set of emoji. I couldn't believe it, might as well have been a public Venmo feed.

maneesh 7y ago
Out of all social networks, Instagram makes it the easiest to unsend messages without an easily visible trace ( without a warrant or compelling fb to give up info) Even WhatsApp leaves a "user has removed a message" ghost
notjtrig 7y ago
There are thousands of people selling THC products on Instagram, I’ve even seen it on eBay. It seems like all these years of civil disobedience is paving the way to a sensible drug policy.
013a 7y ago
Oh yeah. This is one of those mindblowers that you can tell even older young adults and we realize how out of touch we are getting with The Youth. "Kids are getting bootleg THC vape liquid, where are they getting it?" "Oh, its gotta be their dumb older friends." "Well, not usually; would you believe The Internet?" "Oh sure, some dark web site." "Nope. Its a popular app." "Snapchat, with its self-destroying messages for sure?" "Nope." "I hear a lot about tik tok these days, its popular with the youth." "Ha, no, the Chinese are actually good at censorship and moderation, unlike us." "Ok, craigslist? that's always been a little seedy" "No one uses that anymore, least of all kids; Would you believe... Instagram." "What?!"
- Groxx 7y ago
  If it has a messaging system, it will be used for illicit sales. Doesn't matter what system it is. If it's popular, doubly so.
chatmasta 7y ago
There was a story about this today: https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/12/3/20993964/chicago-police-arrests-selling-guns-drugs-facebook https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/12/3/20993964/chicag...
FDSGSG 7y ago
I've used instagram to buy drugs all over the world, usually no weird series of emoji are required. "Hey! I'm visiting $city for a few days and looking for someone who can drop off $quantity for me at $hotel, cash only"
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
lm28469 7y ago
There are a few whatsapp and telegram groups in my area selling all kind of drugs, they even upload gif to showcase their products. You place your order with emojis and some dude show up in your street. Sometime in a black bmw/mercedes, sometimes it's a hippie on a ridiculous bicycle. It's like ubereats but they're always on time.
- ljf 7y ago
  Happens a lot here in the UK, so much that they've started to use the images shared to go after the dealers - taking finger and palm prints from the photos https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43711477 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43711477
tomatotomato37 7y ago
It's always mystifying to me just how many people in illict businesses get so big despite having worse op-sec than a teenager trying to hide porn from his parents
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  Survivorship bias. For every one that wasn’t caught, x were.

maneesh 7y ago

Out of all social networks, Instagram makes it the easiest to unsend messages without an easily visible trace ( without a warrant or compelling fb to give up info) Even WhatsApp leaves a "user has removed a message" ghost

notjtrig 7y ago

There are thousands of people selling THC products on Instagram, I’ve even seen it on eBay. It seems like all these years of civil disobedience is paving the way to a sensible drug policy.

013a 7y ago

Oh yeah. This is one of those mindblowers that you can tell even older young adults and we realize how out of touch we are getting with The Youth. "Kids are getting bootleg THC vape liquid, where are they getting it?" "Oh, its gotta be their dumb older friends." "Well, not usually; would you believe The Internet?" "Oh sure, some dark web site." "Nope. Its a popular app." "Snapchat, with its self-destroying messages for sure?" "Nope." "I hear a lot about tik tok these days, its popular with the youth." "Ha, no, the Chinese are actually good at censorship and moderation, unlike us." "Ok, craigslist? that's always been a little seedy" "No one uses that anymore, least of all kids; Would you believe... Instagram." "What?!"

Groxx 7y ago
If it has a messaging system, it will be used for illicit sales. Doesn't matter what system it is. If it's popular, doubly so.

chatmasta 7y ago

There was a story about this today: https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/12/3/20993964/chicago-police-arrests-selling-guns-drugs-facebook https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/12/3/20993964/chicag...

FDSGSG 7y ago

I've used instagram to buy drugs all over the world, usually no weird series of emoji are required. "Hey! I'm visiting $city for a few days and looking for someone who can drop off $quantity for me at $hotel, cash only"

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

lm28469 7y ago

There are a few whatsapp and telegram groups in my area selling all kind of drugs, they even upload gif to showcase their products. You place your order with emojis and some dude show up in your street. Sometime in a black bmw/mercedes, sometimes it's a hippie on a ridiculous bicycle. It's like ubereats but they're always on time.

ljf 7y ago
Happens a lot here in the UK, so much that they've started to use the images shared to go after the dealers - taking finger and palm prints from the photos https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43711477 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43711477

tomatotomato37 7y ago

It's always mystifying to me just how many people in illict businesses get so big despite having worse op-sec than a teenager trying to hide porn from his parents

colejohnson66 7y ago
Survivorship bias. For every one that wasn’t caught, x were.