3 ms·

My theory is that only idiots get caught. If you read the article, it was a tiny operation considering the global illegal drug market. They only sold $1M worth

by rorrr 15y ago

My theory is that only idiots get caught. If you read the article, it was a tiny operation considering the global illegal drug market. They only sold $1M worth of drugs in three years, that's silly. They didn't catch some big fish criminals, they caught some idiot kids who thought they could easily make money.

Blunt 15y ago
"My theory is that only idiots get caught" No, only idiots do this to begin with.
- reustle 15y ago
  As much as I agree, do you realize how big the active drug trade is? There are a lot of very smart people out there.
  - wisty 15y ago
    It's about half the size of the legal (pharmaceutical) drug trade, which is big. Taking out a group with $1 million revenue is like taking out a local pharmacy.
    - cookiecaper 15y ago
      Maybe there's value in the fact that this was an Onion service that was targeted specifically -- are the Feds trying to send a message about Tor? Was this whole operation hinged on the PR or was there some strategic value to taking out the group (assuming your analogy to a local pharmacy holds true, which I don't necessarily believe)? Perhaps the Feds were scared because Tor was involved and wanted to strike before the defendants wised up and went totally dark with more anonymous payment schemes (anyone using PayPal obviously has no reasonable expectation of anonymity), knowing that PayPal et al only keep records so long?
loverobots 15y ago
Big criminals arrange for 120 tons to be shipped to San Diego, but the last mile has to sell it. When you make a few dollars at a time in profit, you need new customers, over and over again. Thee big dealer can also get lucky once and retire, not so for the small fish. Acting as a user wanting to buy drugs online is the easiest thing for an undercover DEA agent. And then they can use full power of the US Government to find out the rest. Bottom line: do not sell drugs online day in and day out, you will get caught.

by rorrr 15y ago

Blunt 15y ago

"My theory is that only idiots get caught" No, only idiots do this to begin with.

reustle 15y ago
As much as I agree, do you realize how big the active drug trade is? There are a lot of very smart people out there.
- wisty 15y ago
  It's about half the size of the legal (pharmaceutical) drug trade, which is big. Taking out a group with $1 million revenue is like taking out a local pharmacy.
  - cookiecaper 15y ago
    Maybe there's value in the fact that this was an Onion service that was targeted specifically -- are the Feds trying to send a message about Tor? Was this whole operation hinged on the PR or was there some strategic value to taking out the group (assuming your analogy to a local pharmacy holds true, which I don't necessarily believe)? Perhaps the Feds were scared because Tor was involved and wanted to strike before the defendants wised up and went totally dark with more anonymous payment schemes (anyone using PayPal obviously has no reasonable expectation of anonymity), knowing that PayPal et al only keep records so long?

loverobots 15y ago

Big criminals arrange for 120 tons to be shipped to San Diego, but the last mile has to sell it. When you make a few dollars at a time in profit, you need new customers, over and over again. Thee big dealer can also get lucky once and retire, not so for the small fish. Acting as a user wanting to buy drugs online is the easiest thing for an undercover DEA agent. And then they can use full power of the US Government to find out the rest. Bottom line: do not sell drugs online day in and day out, you will get caught.