User:Samuel Simpson14/assignment6

Darknet
Darknet markets have had an up-rise in traffic in recent years for many reasons. One of the biggest contributors being the anonymity and safety that goes along when using the markets. There are numerous ways you can lose all your money invested and be caught when using Darknet markets. Vendors and costumers go through great lengths at keeping their identity a secret when online. Commonly used tools are virtual private networks, Tails, and Tor to help hide their trail left behind for investigators. Darknet markets make the user feel safe as they can get what they want from the comfort of their home. People can easily gain access to a Tor browser with DuckDuckGo browser that allows a user to explore much deeper than other browsers such as Google Chrome. However actually gaining access to an illicit market isn't as simple as typing it in on the search engine like you would with google. Darknet markets have special links that are changing everyday ending in .onion opposed to the typical .com, .net. and .org domain extensions. To add to privacy the biggest currency on these markets is Bitcoin. Bitcoin allows transactions to be committed between people by exchanging wallet addresses and never having to know anything about the person you're sending money to.

One of the biggest issues the users face who use marketplaces are the vendors or market itself exit scamming. This is when usually a vendor with a high rating will act as if they're still selling on the market and have users send them money. The vendor will then close off his account after receiving money from multiple buyers and never send what they purchased. The vendors all being involved in illegal activities have a low chance at not exit scamming when they no longer want to be a vendor. In 2019, an entire market called Wall Street Market had allegedly exit scammed, stealing 30 million dollars from the vendors and buyers wallets in bitcoin. The market's Admins and Managers sent messages to many of the top vendors blackmailing them to send bitcoin to a specific address or risk having their private information leaked. This further proving that darknet markets are unsafe to anyone who uses them. There is no buyer protection to get your money back when these scams take place.

Federal agents have had a huge crackdown on these markets. In July of 2017, federal agents seized one of the biggest markets commonly called Alphabay. Commonly investigators will pose as a buyer and order packages from darknet vendors in the hopes they left a trail they can follow. One investigation had an investigator pose as a firearms seller and for six months people purchased from them and provided home addresses. They were able to make over a dozen arrests during this six month investigation. Another one of law enforcement's biggest crackdowns are on vendors selling fentanyl and opiates. With thousands of dying each year due to drug over dose it was long overdue for law enforcement to crack down on these markets. Many vendors don't realize the extra charges that go along with selling drugs online. Commonly they get charged with money laundering and charges for when the drugs are shipped in the mail on top of being a drug distributor. Each state has its laws and regulations on drugs therefore vendors have the face multiple charges from different states. In 2019, a vendor was sentenced to 10 years in prison after selling cocaine and methamphetamine under the name JetSetLife. Although many investigators spend a lot of time tracking down people in the course of a year only 65 suspects were identified who bought and sold illegal goods on some of the biggest markets. This is compared to the thousands of transactions taking place daily on these markets.


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