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Russia's Dead Drop Drug Revolution
- K0balt 2y agoFinally, the killer app for AR technology.
- cluckindan 2y agoMore likely they will just hijack some existing AR game and use its geocoding system to mark the drops.
- eps 2y agoThis was very light on information.
- iszomer 2y agoGeocaching is going to take a hit if it hasn't already..
- 0_____0 2y agoWhy would it take a hit, and how?
- DrillShopper 2y agoIf I found some free drugs I'd be tempted to take a hit or two
- reisse 2y agoIn cops eyes, it's hard to distinguish between geocacher and kladman (the one doing dead drops). You'll spend some time explaining why you were putting something in the strange place on the street...
- 0_____0 2y agoFor a while I was doing an art project where I was attaching small placards to telephone poles. At first, I was nervous that I would be confronted about this, and made purpose built, discreet hand tools for this purpose. I quickly realized that nobody on the street gives a shit if you just walk around with an electric impact driver screwing things to telephone poles. Maybe things where you are are different, but the police around here really aren't interested in interacting with anything that dispatch didn't tell them to interact with.
- gorjusborg 2y agoI don't know, there are some people who would probably pick up the habit with these higher rewards :)
- dkenyser 2y agoPeople have been using Crypto to buy drugs since its earliest days, people have been using the darknet to sell and distribute drugs since its earliest days, and people have been using dead drops to transfer drugs and other illegal goods since the dawn of organized crime. None of this is new, or unique to Russia.
- Isamu 2y agoGood point. To be fair they are reporting on the new dominance of this model in Russia, rather than claiming this is the first time anyone has seen this. “Driven by large platforms such as Kraken, Mega, and Blacksprut, Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone. This dominance marks a new era for organized crime, with Russia’s digital drug economy vastly surpassing traditional Western darknet markets in scope and influence.”
- dantyti 2y agofrom tfa: > Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone does seem very relevant to expose Russia's outsized influence.
- HelloNurse 2y agoThe purposes of such an alarm can include general fearmongering, excuses for eavesdropping, excuses for curfews and searches, excuses for face recognition in public spaces, excuses for cryptocurrency restrictions, supporting requests for increasing law enforcement budgets because of the war on drugs, and so on. Actual news are optional, although in this case both a rise of high tech methods in retail drug trading over time and widespread usage in Russia seem likely.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- flotzam 2y agoThe thing that's new is making all of these puzzle pieces come together, at scale
- JKCalhoun 2y agoIs this sustainable? I feel like dead drops are not re-useable. Certainly not compromised ones — and I would imagine sting operations by the DEA would begin to compromise a significant share of them.
- 0_____0 2y agoUh, outside is really big, and there's lots of stuff in it that nobody pays attention to. Especially something as small as a packet of drugs is something you could honestly just staple to the bottom of a pole under a leaf you found nearby and nobody would notice.
- Fluorescence 2y agoI saw a guy in my city checking every nook and cranny he passed and he looked well practised in the likely spots. Quite interesting to see him at work and the places that got extra attention: the most keen search was around the frame of a sign, the second rank were the larger crevices in brickwork and around utility pipework. I assumed he was looking for other addicts stashes e.g. maybe they stash what they're holding when they beg to avoid losing it to police searches? Maybe it was dead drops but it seemed like a street thing rather than a darknet thing but what do I know... I don't know if he was successful or just nuts but given I've found full baggies just laying on the pavement, maybe it's not so hard.
- someuser2345 2y agoOr maybe he was just doing geocaching.
- Fluorescence 2y agoOh the guy was most definitely an addict... but lets hope a passion for a nerdy hobby was part of his recovery.
- brokenmachine 2y agoOnce on a night out with other poor uni students, I hid a vodka bottle in the bushes before going into a nightclub. Someone must have seen me because, surprisingly, it wasn't there when I came back later.
- diego_moita 2y agoThis confluence of organized crime, dark web and cryptocurrencies is happening everywhere, not only Russia: https://www.economist.com/international/2024/11/26/the-world-is-losing-the-fight-against-international-gangs https://www.economist.com/international/2024/11/26/the-world...
- dantyti 2y agofrom tfa: >Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone
- flotzam 2y agoThere's a link in the report to an instruction manual for couriers, the "Kladman's Bible": https://www.pdf-archive.com/2017/11/19/kladmen2-1/kladmen2-1.pdf https://www.pdf-archive.com/2017/11/19/kladmen2-1/kladmen2-1... I don't speak Russian, but the photos look interesting. Does anyone have an English translation?
- tdiff 2y agoI've skimmed through it and it is quite disgusting. It is written in a manner to convince future kladman that "everything gonna be alright if you do it right". In fact, kladmen are disposable, are easy targets for cops, and get huge sentences.
- specproc 2y agoI have a cite in the source report, and it's sad to see the top comments here being off-hand dismissals. A few things that really stood out from the study: - This is now the primary way drugs are bought and sold in Russia. Crypto and darknet markets have always been a bit niche in the West, but it's really taken off here. No definitive answer as to why, but high-risk, low-trust, poor-post is a decent hypothesis. - The markets are massive business, which do publicity stunts (e.g., dumping a bus with their logo in the middle of central Moscow)[1] and digital marketing, check out "moriati" on YouTube.[1] - There are two basic jobs in the lower ranks: kladmen and cooks. Both often involve taking out debt and getting the shit kicked out of you when you don't pay (not so different here, I guess). This is particularly interesting, because darknet markets had been previously seen as safer means of exchange as in-person contact is reduced. - Different categories of drugs are thriving in the context of broken supply chains stemming from conflict between Russia and the West. Forget krokodil, this is an Alpha PVP and Mephodrone scene, as they've got precursors that are readily available in Russia. Loads in this report. I read a lot of shit, lazy work on Russia and this is the good stuff. Well worth a read. [0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-darknet-market-wars/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-darknet-market-wars/ [1] https://www.youtube.com/@moriartymega https://www.youtube.com/@moriartymega