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Tag: Dark Web

  • "Drug Llama" Allegedly Sold 50,000 Fentanyl Pills On Dark Web

    "Drug Llama" Allegedly Sold 50,000 Fentanyl Pills On Dark Web

    Investigators say the woman who reportedly calls herself “The Drug Llama” also sold Oxy, Percs and amphetamines through a dark web marketplace.

    A California woman known on the dark web as “The Drug Llama” is accused of shipping more than 50,000 fentanyl pills to consumers across the United States since 2016. 

    Melissa Scanlan, 31, is facing federal charges in Illinois and is also being investigated for two deaths in San Diego, where she lives, according to The San Diego Union Tribune.

    In those cases, investigators allege that she sold fentanyl that led to the deaths of a 10-month-old boy and a 41-year-old woman. The baby died after his father bought fentanyl—allegedly from Scanlan—and left it within reach of the child. The boy was found unresponsive in his parents’ bed.  

    These might be two of many deaths allegedly caused by Scanlan’s drugs. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson told a federal judge that Scanlan has trafficked more than 50,000 fentanyl pills, although the indictment against her only covers 400 grams of fentanyl. 

    Scanlan was the subject of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) undercover operation in both San Diego and St. Louis. As the scope of the investigation expanded, the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Department of Homeland Security also became involved. 

    Investigators say that Scanlan was selling drugs on the dark web marketplace called Dream Market, where she was known as “The Drug Llama.”

    In addition to selling fentanyl, she also offered oxycodone, amphetamines, morphine, Percocet, temazepam, flexeril, and an “opiate powder pack,” according to federal documents. Her fentanyl was pressed into blue pills that were disguised as oxycodone. The drugs arrived in leather pouches much like those sold by a company Scanlan owns. 

    Federal investigators ordered drugs from the “Llama” in July and were able to track Scanlan using the return address on the packages. The address listed was associated with an old business of Scanlan’s, and the name listed—Samantha Cooper—was later found to be the names of her two dogs. A Paypal account also linked Scanlan processed thousands of drug-related transactions. 

    In August, Scanlan was arrested on state drug charges after a search of her home. However, shortly after she was released she traveled to Mexico to arrange the shipment of more fentanyl to her house, and redirected her customers to another dark web marketplace where they could purchase the drugs. 

    She was arrested again on September 4 and admitted to buying fentanyl from a Mexican cartel. This time, federal prosecutors are arguing that she is a flight risk and a danger, noting that Scanlan is five months pregnant but continuing to engage in criminal activity. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Feds Charge Dozens Of Dark Web Dealers In Massive Sweep

    Feds Charge Dozens Of Dark Web Dealers In Massive Sweep

    The dark net is no longer a safe haven for online drug dealers, says the Justice Department.

    Last Tuesday, more than 35 people were charged with dealing illicit drugs on the dark web, the online marketplace previously thought untouchable by authorities.

    The charges mark the first time that authorities went after the dealers on these secretive online platforms rather than the managers of the online spaces, the New York Times noted.

    The bust resulted in the seizure of opioids, cocaine, over 100 guns and assault rifles, a grenade launcher, five cars, and almost $24 million worth of gold, cash, Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies.

    “Criminals who think that they are safe on the dark net are wrong,” said deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein. “We can expose their networks.”

    Homeland Security agents went undercover online as money launderers working with virtual currencies. 

    “Special agents were able to walk amongst those in the cyberunderworld to find those vendors who sell highly addictive drugs for a profit,” said Homeland Security Investigation’s Derek Benner. “[Homeland Security Investigations] has infiltrated the dark net.”

    The captured suspects came from all across the United States, aged mostly in their 20s and 30s, and sold opioids, cocaine, meth, and marijuana on the web.

    One thing many of them shared was the acceptance of Bitcoin as payment for their products. Bitcoin may seem like an obvious choice of currency for nefarious dealings, being independent of government controls as well as being hard to track as it is transferred from one anonymous user to another.

    However, to hold all bitcoin users accountable, every transfer is recorded in a ledger that, while hard to understand to the average person, is pretty much an open record of everyone who has ever laid hands on that bitcoin. With time, law enforcement will be able to reliably track bitcoin transfers, some cyber security experts say.

    This marks a departure from the old strategy used by authorities to crack down on online crime: going after the managers of the trade platforms. In 2015, authorities shut down the online bazaar Silk Road and prosecuted the owner and founder, Ross Ulbricht, also known by his online nickname “Dread Pirate Roberts.” He is now serving a life sentence.

    But the lure of an anonymous online drug market remains, evidenced by the myriad cryptocurrencies arising that are made expressly for difficulty in detection.

    “Some newer cryptocurrencies have features that make the tracing of them quite complicated,” said Greg Nevano, an ICE official who investigates cryptocurrencies. “These new anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies are clearly ripe for illicit use in an effort to subvert legitimate law enforcement inquiries.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Tech Companies Dispute Playing Major Role In Opioid Crisis

    Tech Companies Dispute Playing Major Role In Opioid Crisis

    “The opioid epidemic is, in a majority of cases, primarily an offline problem,” said a representative of the Internet Association.

    A summit on Wednesday, June 27, hosted by the Food and Drug Administration, was predicted to draw representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter, among other relevant tech companies, as well as academics, lobbyists and government officials. 

    According to Wired, the FDA said the summit was meant to encourage tech officials to “discuss ways to collaboratively take stronger action” when it comes to illegal opioids in the online market.

    However, there was some controversy around the summit due to tech and pharmaceutical companies disagreeing about who was more responsible for the opioid crisis. 

    Initially, the invitation for the summit stated that the FDA planned to ask tech companies to sign what it called a “Pledge to Reduce the Availability of Illicit Opioids Online,” which would be published 30 days after the summit. 

    However, after discussing it with tech companies, the FDA decided not to follow through with the plan. 

    “We will consolidate the feedback and ideas discussed at the summit and turn it into an actionable plan—not just for those in the room but for all internet stakeholders to join,” an FDA spokesperson said, according to Wired.

    The involvement of the tech industry in the opioid crisis has been a topic of discussion in the past few months in Washington, D.C., Wired states. 

    Back in April, at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that tech companies had not been “proactive enough” when it came to getting rid of illegal drugs online.

    Additionally, earlier this month the FDA sent letters to nine companies operating 53 online pharmacies, and instructed them to cease the marketing of opioids. 

    But tech companies are fighting back, claiming they aren’t to blame. On Tuesday, June 26, the Internet Association—which represents tech companies like Twitter, Google, Facebook Reddit and more—held a call with reporters prior to the summit.

    “The opioid epidemic is, in a majority of cases, primarily an offline problem,” said a representative of the Association, according to Wired. The representative cited research by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which stated that most people misusing opioids get them from non-online sources. 

    Of those sales that are taking place online, the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies cited a report stating that most of them are happening on the dark web. Additionally, the report found that some of the “open” web sites claim to sell opioids but actually do not, and instead steal people’s information.

    Despite some tech companies claiming they are not to blame, some steps have been taken to eliminate opioid sales online. Google promoted the DEA’s Drug Take-Back Day in April with a special tool on its homepage.

    Additionally, Facebook recently announced it would redirect users who are trying to buy opioids on the platform to a help hotline, and Instagram has begun monitoring hashtags related to opioids. 

    Libby Baney, an advisor to the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, tells Wired that this is a start but companies also need to acknowledge the role they have played. 

    “This is a historic opportunity to do more with what we already know is true,” she said. “If it ends up being us versus them and there’s pointing fingers and a lot of ‘We’re already doing this or that,’ that’s an old-school way of thinking that isn’t responsive to the public health need.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Opioid Regulations Pushing Those In Need To The Dark Web

    Opioid Regulations Pushing Those In Need To The Dark Web

    Researchers found that since the prescription opioid crackdown began, dark web sales for the targeted medications have steadily increased.

    Rules meant to crack down on the use of opioids have instead turned some individuals to the black market, a new study has found.

    UPI reports that in 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) put new regulations on hydrocodone (e.g. Vicodin), making it more difficult to prescribe and taking away automatic refill options.

    From mid-2013 to mid-2015, the number of prescriptions decreased greatly. 

    However, some individuals had found another way to access the medications: the internet. Research published in the journal BMJ revealed that since the new regulations were put in place, more people are buying opioids online without a prescription, using “software-encrypted online portals that permit illegal sales and elude regulators.”

    Researchers found that in the four years since 2014, opioid sales on the dark web have increased by about 4% annually. 

    “This [DEA] action did have the hoped-for effect of reducing the number of prescriptions issued for these products,” study author Judith Aldridge, a professor of criminology at the University of Manchester in England, told UPI. “[But] our team found that sales on the so-called ‘dark net’ of opioid prescription medications increased following the DEA’s initiative.”

    Aldridge also says it was beyond the one type of medication. 

    “And this increase was not just observed for medications containing hydrocodone,” she said. “We also saw increased dark-net sales for products containing much stronger opioids, like oxycodone (OxyContin) and fentanyl.”

    A team of investigators used “web crawler” software to look in-depth at 31 “cryptomarkets” that operated before and after the new regulations. In doing so, they found minimal changes to the sales of sedatives, steroids, stimulants or illegal opioids (ones that are not prescribed by medical professionals).

    On the other hand, investigators found that dark web sales of prescription opioids had increased in overall sales in 2016, making up about 14% of the sales. They also found that of those, more purchases were made for fentanyl than hydrocodone. In 2014, fentanyl had been the least popular dark web prescription opioid, but in 2016 it was the second most popular.

    According to researchers, one difficulty with dark web sales is that they are more complicated to monitor. 

    “Solutions here are not simple,” Aldridge said. “However, we know very well that our results were entirely predictable. Solutions must combine cutting supply and tackling demand at the same time. This requires making prevention and treatment grounded in good science available for all.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Accused Dark Web Kingpin "OxyMonster" Faces 20-Year Sentence

    Accused Dark Web Kingpin "OxyMonster" Faces 20-Year Sentence

    Federal agents captured the accused drug kingpin when he came to the US for a beard contest last summer.

    The man who is accused of selling oxycodone, cocaine and methamphetamine online under the alias “OxyMonster” will reportedly plead guilty in federal court on charges of drug conspiracy and money laundering, the Associated Press reported on Thursday (May 31).

    Guy Vallerius faces at least 20 years in prison. The alleged dark web drug dealer was nabbed by U.S. authorities while en route from France to Austin, Texas last summer for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. He was planning to compete in the “full beard 30.1-45cm” category.

    DEA special agent Lilita Infante had Vallerius on her radar when she requested Homeland Security border officials to detain him for questioning upon his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, his first stop from Paris.

    Infante was hoping he’d have a laptop with him, which he did. Authorities searched his computer and was able to “directly link Vallerius to the Dream Market,” the dark web marketplace where Vallerius would “moderate sales of cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone,” according to the AP. 

    According to a DEA affidavit issued last August, authorities were able to “confirm his identity as ‘OxyMonster’” following the border search of his laptop, on which agents discovered the Tor browser (allowing one to conceal their true IP address that would be able to identify them), “apparent log-in credentials for Dream Market, and $500,000 worth of bitcoin.”

    The affidavit states that Vallerius’ online profile advertised that he shipped his illicit wares from France to anywhere in Europe and the United States.

    Vallerius also had a drug vendor page on a similar dark web marketplace called TradeRoute, according to DEA officials, where he had been a member since February 2017, according to the affidavit.

    A magistrate judge stated in a summary of the prosecution’s case:

    “In connection with his role as a ‘senior moderator,’ (Vallerius) also sold controlled substances to other members using the website, receiving payment for these sales through the use of bitcoin ‘tip jar,’ or electronic depository. It was through this tip jar that law enforcement officials became aware of Vallerius’ true identity.

    “After locating the bitcoin depository allegedly belonging to the user ‘OxyMonster,’ agents tracked several incoming payments and outgoing deposits from the tip jar to various ‘wallets’ controlled by Vallerius.”

    Vallerius’ upcoming court hearing on his plea deal is scheduled for June 12.

    View the original article at thefix.com