The data suggests that the field of Darkweb research has grown and become more established over the past decade, with an increasing number of researchers conducting and citing research on the topic. Bibliometric analysis serves as a method to discern patterns, themes, and shifts within a particular realm of research. It also facilitates the identification of the most prolific institutions, authors, and countries engaged in that research domain. Researchers employ bibliometric analysis to examine subjects and nations in their studies 30, 31, 32,33. In this process, it is also useful to carry out map visualization to analyze the structures of knowledge networks 34,35.
International
At that time, Anderson knowingly possessed a semiautomatic pistol in furtherance of the drug trafficking conspiracy. Darknet vendor accounts were also identified and attributed to real individuals selling illicit goods on active marketplaces, as well as inactive Darknet marketplaces such as Dream, WallStreet, White House, DeepSea, and Dark Market. The report further underscores the severe social impacts of this model on Russian society, particularly among young people. Youth are drawn into this high-tech drug economy, often working as couriers or “kladmen” for online shops—a job that comes with high risks, including violence, criminal charges, and addiction.
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And by focusing so heavily on these hidden platforms, authorities are neglecting the growing digital harms in the spaces we all use. “NEW CHOPPERS, boots on the ground, more co-ordination, and increased resources.” These were some of the steps Canada has taken to halt the flow of fentanyl across the border to America, said the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on March 3rd. Just 13 grams of the stuff was seized by American border authorities in January, down 97% from the same month in 2024. Nevertheless, hours later President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China in order, he said, to force those countries to stop drugs “pouring into our country”. This analysis is part of the GI-TOC’s series of articles delving into the results of the Global Organized Crime Index.
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What current policing strategies neglect is that dark web markets are not isolated to the storefronts that are the popular target of crackdowns. These are communities stretched across dark and surface web forums which develop shared tutorials and help one another adapt to any new changes. These closures bind users together and foster a shared resilience and collective experience in navigating these environments. A Chinese national was sentenced today to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for writing and deploying malicious code on his then-employer’s network. Operation Dark HunTor led to 65 arrests in the United States, one in Bulgaria, three in France, 47 in Germany, four in the Netherlands, 24 in the United Kingdom, four in Italy, and two in Switzerland.
Srinivasan pleaded guilty in June 2023 to the same charge and to one count of distributing fentanyl resulting in death and is serving a prison sentence of 235 months (19 years and seven months). While there is a long history of connections between drugs and weapons, DarkOwl analysts were curious if a similar relationship could be observed between weapons and human trafficking, and drugs and human trafficking. By performing a keyword and language correlation analysis across drugs, weapons, and human trafficking related advertisements in DarkOwl Vision, our analysts discovered at least 7 unique vendors who are involved in human trafficking are also involved in drug trafficking activities.
Related Analysis
It also uses global law enforcement networks, like Europol, to combat cybercrime threats. “Our coalition of law enforcement authorities across three continents proves that we all do better when we work together,” said Executive Director Catherine De Bolle of Europol. The Washington-based Wilson Center has warned over the presence of thousands of extremist groups’ websites on the darknet, including neo-Nazis, and white supremacists. Their investigation led them to arrest a total of 288 people across the world on May 2, with 153 in the US alone, which is currently in the grips of an opioid crisis that is killing thousands.
In addition to Wednesday’s arrests, agents served multiple federal search warrants and found evidence to include large amounts of cash, distribution amounts of suspected drugs. JoyInc is believed to have been operating since at least 2018 and is one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to ever operate on the darknet. The defendants were arraigned Wednesday in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
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- However, this resilience also underscores the critical role of law enforcement in disrupting illegal economies that operate under layers of anonymity.
- Since its inception in 2018, JCODE investigations have resulted in the arrest of more than 300 darknet drug traffickers, as well as the seizure of more than $42 million in drug-tainted proceeds, over 800 kilograms of narcotics, and approximately 145 firearms.
- Node size and line thickness are positively related to the keyword connection; the larger the node, the higher the frequency of the keyword, and the thicker the line, the closer the connection between the two topics.
- However, the void left by Archetyp’s takedown may soon be filled by new or existing marketplaces.
- Fusco, 35, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.
According to court documents, Adams and Hosner operated the vendor accounts “igogrrawwr” and “its4real” on the darknet marketplaces ToRReZ and Darkode, respectively, through which they sold tens of thousands of counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl in exchange for cryptocurrency. Adams and Hosner shipped these fentanyl pills to buyers throughout the United States, using the USPS, UPS, and other means of delivery. In the course of their conspiracy, Adams and Hosner finalized over 1,100 transactions of narcotics and other contraband and received more than $800,000 in cryptocurrency. Federal law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a hotel in Riverside county where Adams and Hosner were residing and recovered more than 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills as well as approximately 60 grams of methamphetamine. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California is prosecuting the case.
Combating Transnational Crime
A Chinese national was sentenced today to 28 months in federal prison for laundering approximately $3.5 million in money stolen from victims of investment scams as part of so-called “pig… An indictment and criminal complaint are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. However, the void left by Archetyp’s takedown may soon be filled by new or existing marketplaces. The darknet ecosystem is highly dynamic, with vendors and buyers quickly migrating to other platforms.
It is important that individuals, law enforcement, and policymakers work together to address this issue and minimize its impact on communities. Resecurity, a Los Angeles-based cybersecurity and risk management provider has released an eye-opening report on drug trafficking marketplaces currently operating in the Dark Web. A follow-on study 22 provides a list of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) for investigating and detecting criminal activities related to the international drug market on online social networking platforms on the Darkweb. The study highlights the need for more primary research to assess the quality and coverage of focused research on drug trafficking and other Darkweb crime incidents, covering a wide range of issues such as illicit online business, organized criminal events, and potential illegal markets. Another study 23 used the bibliometric method to analyze the trend of anonymous communication research between 2000 and 2022, using the Citespace tool to analyze authors, institutions, and journal collaborations. They highlighted “Darkweb” and “privacy protection” as keywords that could significantly influence future research.
‘Small retail’ sales accounted for just 18.9%, with ‘social supply’ making up the remaining 11.4%. In addition, the surface web, including social media and e-commerce platforms, increasingly offers criminals – particularly in the illicit drug trade – a vast customer base, ease of use and a measure of anonymity. Wildlife trafficking is also becoming increasingly reliant on e-commerce, with Indonesia and China acting as major hubs for this trade. Some of the pills they mailed were embossed with the FDA-recognized “AD” to resemble the drug manufactured by Teva pharmaceuticals.
Darknet Markets Explained
The darknet is a part of the internet that can be accessed only through special software. To deal with the growing issue of drug trafficking through digital means, the Centre has established a Special Task Force on Darknet and cryptocurrency. This task force will specifically monitor suspicious transactions involving drugs conducted on the darknet. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), India’s primary agency for drug law enforcement, is at the forefront of this initiative. INCB is encouraging voluntary cooperation between governments and online industries to tackle the misuse of legitimate e-commerce platforms for drug trafficking. Its initiatives such as the GRIDS programme have led to drug seizures and arrests as well as criminal networks being dismantled.
Risks Involved In Darknet Drug Trafficking
They define and characterize the Darknet, compare it to other monitoring systems, and report on case studies. They also identify research gaps in Darknet technologies and find that Darknet projects are distributed in one-third of the global Internet. The authors find that computer worms and scanning activities are the most common threats investigated through the Darknet, but DDoS amplification and spoofing activities are understudied. While the telescopic view of Darknet activities is useful, a microscopic view of the Tor network’s hidden services was attempted 59. They developed a new dataset called “Darknet Usage Text Addresses” (DUTA) for studying Darknet active domains and the anonymous expression and illegal activity that occurs on the Deep Web. They built DUTA by sampling the Tor network and manually labeling each address into 26 classes.
