Examples include the sale of high-quality products with low risk for contamination (including lacing and cutting), vendor-tested products, sharing of trip reports, and online discussion of harm reduction practices. Some health professionals such as “DoctorX” provide information, advice and drug-testing services on the darknet.140 The quality of products is attributed to the competition and transparency of darknet markets139 which involve user feedback and reputation features. Apart from the laws mentioned above, the strongest laws against firearms trafficking prohibit the sale or transfer of a firearm if the seller has knowledge or reason to believe the buyer intends to subsequently transfer or resell the firearm to a third party without a background check. That represents 54% of the illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. between 2017 and 2021, Justice Department officials said. The guns were used in 368 shooting cases, which are harder to investigate because unlicensed dealers aren’t required to keep records of their sales that could allow federal agents to trace the weapon back to the original buyer, said ATF Director Steve Dettelbach. WASHINGTON — More than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. came through unlicensed dealers who aren’t required to perform background checks over a five-year period, according to new data released Thursday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
Agentic AI-Powered, Intelligence-Driven Unified Cybersecurity Platform
We’re back with another video in our Webz Insider video series on everything web data. This week our Content and Communications Manager Yafit Lazar is in the interviewer’s seat as our BDR pro Baruch Katz shares his insights on the latest changes in the cyber world, what he discovered at the latest Infosecurity Europe conference in London and how dark web data has become a hot topic. Freshtools was established in 2019 and offers various stolen credentials, accounts, and host protocols like RDP. It is considered a go-to site for malware purchasing, providing keyloggers, trojans, and other Malware as a Service products. Established in 2022, WizardShop is one of the biggest data stores on the dark web, focusing mainly on carding and financial data.
“For whatever reason, the amount of time it takes for law enforcement to identify a straw person is too long.” Another growing source of illegal guns in Canada, according to police, is firearms that were originally bought legitimately through retailers. Information compiled recently by data aggregation platform Echosec showed how illegal weapons are available for purchase on the dark web, an encrypted part of the internet where the black market flourishes.
The Rise Of “Hybrid Firearms”
The website, which authorities said operated on an encrypted system that allowed users to access the internet anonymously, allegedly sold illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine. Crowley calls it a “pipeline” — guns smuggled across the border from Detroit into Windsor, and then to cities across the country. He says the influx of firearms has contributed to an increase in violent gun crime in Canada. Although Congress has not enacted a nationwide universal background check law, at least 20 states require background checks for all gun sales.
All Weapons Are Without Serial Numbers!!!
In doing so, DarkOwl analysts uncovered a confluence between the three economies, indicating a possible interrelationship between the supply routes moving drugs, weapons, and people around the world. Trafficked firearms were also used in aggravated assaults in nearly 19% of cases, homicide in approximately 11% of cases, and attempted homicide in more than 9% of cases. The recipients or end users of the trafficked firearms tended to be previously convicted felons (60%) and young adults aged 25 to 34 (48%).
A Russian Disinformation Campaign
“Straw purchasing is a hot-button topic,” says Wes Winkel, owner of the Ellwood Epps sporting goods store in Severn, Ont. He says it can be tough for retailers to identify a possible straw purchaser, although there are some telltale signs. Superintendent Jason Crowley with the Windsor police department says the appeal of smuggling guns is pure economics.
In the spring of 2013, a vendor messaged Dread Pirate Roberts threatening to expose the personal information of thousands of users. Vincent D’Agostino Ross was the boss and below Ross was … like the consigliere would be — in a traditional organized crime family. … And then, below that, his soldiers, which were his lower-level employees that didn’t know too much but were doing the mop-up duty. Normally, once agents find a potential IP address, they get a subpoena from a judge to request further information from the internet service provider. Determined to find the source of the drugs, the agent showed up at a residence where one of the packages was headed – to conduct a “knock-and-talk.” Ross followed an unconventional path, creating a free market website, where users could avoid government scrutiny.
The Most Reliable Online Gun Store On The Dark Web
The most common country of origin or country of shipment from greatest to least were listed as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. With access to Ulbricht’s Google history, FBI agents discovered that his Gmail and Silk Road account activity did line up. By now Homeland Security agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan had made 3,600 drug seizures. But his biggest “get” came in the spring of 2013, when he located one of Dread Pirate Roberts’ deputies who created the screen name “Cirrus.”
Shuttered Dark Web Marketplaces
In 2023, the dark web attracted an average of 2.7 million daily users, with Germany now leading as the country with the highest number of Tor users, surpassing the United States for the first time in years. He recommends verifying market employees carefully, and to weed out law enforcement infiltration through barium meal tests. The federal investigation alleged that during its two and a half years in operation, the site had been used by several thousand drug dealers, who in turn distributed the goods to “well over a hundred thousand buyers” and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from the transactions. The site’s illicit sales revenue totaled 9.5 million Bitcoins and commissions totaled over 600,000 Bitcoins, the complaint states. The value of the e-currency has fluctuated, however, authorities estimated those figures today are equivalent to $1.2 billion in sales and $80 million in commissions. “They tend never to buy accessories. You know, most sports shooters will need accessories to go with their firearms, whether it be holsters, ammunition, stuff like that.”
The research was based on similar methodologies to those previously used to analyze the dark web drug trade, which take scraped data from marketplaces typically accessed through the Tor network. According to the paper, the researchers identified 52 unique vendors selling weapons or similar items such as ammunition, explosives, or components such as silencers, spread across 811 listings and 18 markets (some sites have explicitly banned the sale of weapons). In contrast, Europe accounts for 23.6 percent of the gun sales, which is unsurprising given that most European countries have stricter gun-control laws than the US. In Germany, for example, anyone under the age of 25 is required to pass a psychiatric evaluation before buying a gun. In France, firearm applicants are subjected to rigorous background checks and sales are denied to those with criminal records. Encrypted communications networks can serve as a work-around to traditional darknet marketplaces and facilitate single-vendor trade or “direct deals” by interfacing with users directly.
Some are looking for illegal stuff they can’t buy elsewhere, like drugs or counterfeit documents. The story of dark web marketplaces kicks off with Silk Road, launched in 2011. It was the first big site where people could anonymously buy drugs using Bitcoin, and it gained a lot of attention, until it was shut down by the FBI in 2013. Oct. 2, 2013— — A billion dollar black market website allowed people to use Bitcoin digital currency to buy guns, drugs or hire assassins, according to a federal complaint released today. Winkel says years of sales records are already kept by retailers, and yet authorities aren’t effectively using that information to quickly flag straw buyers.
With just a few clicks, you can explore our vast inventory and complete your purchase, ensuring a smooth shopping experience. When defendants went to trial, juries acquitted them about half the time, the Everytown report said. That included one defendant who sold hundreds of guns without a license, earning tens of thousands of dollars, the report said.
By Friday, two weeks into the three-week program, it had collected 1,235 firearms. But even as programs like this seek to get guns out of circulation, fresh ones are being added through the black market. Police are scrambling to keep pace with criminals who are coming up with creative ways to supply Canada’s black market with firearms. This gray area has resulted in an enormous unregulated gun market by creating a “private sale loophole” criminals and others gun sellers have long exploited, according to ATF. But there is no minimum number of firearms that must be bought or resold to trigger the licensing requirement. Arrests for engaging in the business of selling firearms without a license are rare and account for a small fraction of all gun prosecutions, according to federal data.
For some critics, it’s an explicit example of tight gun-control policies failing their citizens as homicide rates rose – up 3.3 percent in the first eight months of 2019 compared to 2018 – while law-abiding citizens have been left to recoil in the face of illegal gun owners. Still, the notion of whether the U.S border wall would benefit Mexico – by helping block the illicit transfer of firearms – has been subject to debate. Pond pleaded guilty to the same charge as Villarreal and was sentenced last week to 48 months of probation.
- Still, the notion of whether the U.S border wall would benefit Mexico – by helping block the illicit transfer of firearms – has been subject to debate.
- DarkOwl analysts also considered the very real probability that the threat actor offering these services is a scammer.
- Apart from the dark web markets that are operating online today, some raided platforms influenced many markets.
- Those guns represent 54% of illegally trafficked firearms recovered in that period.
Summary Of State Law
In its response to the Texas lawsuit, ATF said the Gun Control Act gives it the authority to implement necessary gun regulations. The agency said its regulations are supported by ATF’s vast experience as well as numerous court findings over the years on what constitutes being in the firearms business. A federal firearms dealer license typically is not needed if “you make only occasional sales of different second-hand firearms to enhance your personal collection,” the agency said. It also doesn’t apply to those who make occasional sales for a hobby or to dispose of all or part of a personal collection, according to the agency. An ATF report released earlier this year found guns sold by unlicensed dealers in the U.S. from 2017 to 2021 were used in more than 360 shootings.
These included small arms, such as, pistols, assault rifles, grenades, Claymores, knives, machetes, etc. Larger weapons such as missiles, light machine guns, mortars, anti-tank missiles, tanks, and planes were also used. Leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, Charles Taylor, helped to create the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone. Taylor was the recipient of thousands of illegally trafficked arms from eastern Europe (mostly Ukraine). The cyclical exchange allowed Compaore the ability to deny directly sending arms to Sierra Leone.
