The NSW and Victorian police forces declined to comment specifically on news.com.au’s research, but both said they were aware of Australia’s online drug trade. A news.com.au investigation has exposed the shocking extent of Australia’s online drug trade, with $7.5 million in illicit substances available to buy in any given week. Testing of illicit drugs bought online found 35% were not what they said they were, highlighting the urgent need for more local drug testing facilities in Australia to prevent harm and overdose. The RMIT-led study analysed 103 illicit drug samples sourced from the now-defunct dark web forum Test4Pay in collaboration with the Australian National University, UNSW Sydney, and Canadian testing facility Get Your Drugs Tested. These markets host hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of people who sell drugs, commonly referred to as “vendors”. The dark web offers vital anonymity for vendors and buyers, who use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to process transactions.
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To find out, our recent study surveyed 13 darknet drug vendors, via online encrypted interviews. A review of dark web marketplaces yielded hundreds of results for Australian-based operators that sell a variety of illicit substances almost exclusively to locals. As a criminal market, it is deeply intertwined with a wide range of criminal activities, including cyber-dependent and financial crimes. As these illicit economies continue to flourish, tackling and dismantling the criminal networks involved will require more than technological advancements. The issue calls for international cooperation, policy adjustments and a deeper understanding of the constantly evolving cyber landscape.
Buying Illegal Drugs Online
Even more concerning was the finding that 21% of the drugs did not contain the advertised substances at all. This complete substitution poses serious health risks, as consumers have no idea what they’re actually ingesting. The study revealed that while 65% of the drugs matched their online descriptions, this seemingly positive finding can be misleading. It might suggest a level of trustworthiness among some vendors, but a deeper look uncovers a concerning reality. Due to its extensive inventory and reputation for reliability, Brian’s Club has maintained a significant presence on the dark web.
Agora launched in 2013 and surpassed Silk Road in September 2014 to become the largest black market on the Dark Web.
Australia is a leading country in the darknet drugs trade, with more online drug vendors per capita than any other nation except the Netherlands, according to research presented at this week’s Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association Conference. You do not have to be a big time supplier to get charged under the criminal code for online drug transactions. For example, you can be charged as a drug trafficker for importing as little as 0.5 gram of MDMA or two grams of coke. Just as it is with drug sales on the street, “a drug conviction can have a long term impact on someone’s life, including limiting career prospects and making it difficult to travel overseas. Finally, there is a misconception that you cannot get caught buying and selling illicit drugs off the dark net.
How The Internet Is Used To Buy Drugs Online
On Dec. 6, he was sentenced at a Sydney District Court to a 35-month intensive corrections order that must be served in the community, following a finding of special circumstances, including risk of self-harm. “It is a lot to take on whilst currently managing through some personal problems,” the seller said, explaining they had been overwhelmed with a rush of purchases. Many Australian vendors on the dark web operate like a traditional business, employing marketing tactics you would expect to see in a legit retail environment. Unique branding, proud track records of happy customers, competitive pricing and benefits, money back guarantees and quality assurance — that’s the pitch from most sellers.
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AFP Detective Superintendent Craig Bellis said while each of the packages contained relatively small amounts of illicit drugs, combined they equated to dozens of individual street deals that would cause significant harm to the Australian community. Dr Martin says darknet trading is very difficult to police, but it’s not all bad news for law enforcement. Regarding profits, darknet vendors do not have to limit their trading to face-to-face interactions, and can instead sell drugs to a potentially worldwide customer base. Trade is booming despite disruptions from law enforcement and particularly “exit scams”, in which market admins abruptly close down sites and take all available funds. Chikarovski’s defense said that he turned to using illicit drugs to cope with a childhood marked by dysfunction and the pressure of living in the public eye. Prosecution documents reportedly showed Chikarovski sold drugs to undercover police across 18 different transactions between February and May 2023.
- More recently, a 43 year old man in Sydney was arrested allegedly supplying prohibited drugs on the dark web.
- This means that a person can be deemed to have intended to sell or supply a drug, even when the amount they possessed was quite small but it was diluted in a large amount of other material.
- These markets host hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of people who sell drugs, commonly referred to as “vendors”.
- “Digital analysts also work closely with investigators to address these growing concerns,” she said.
Quality and validity of the data it provides justify its higher cost over other marketplaces. The platform’s popularity continues to grow, attracting both new and returning customers. Valued at approximately $15 million, Abacus Market is one of the most lucrative platforms in the dark web ecosystem. In 2024, the platform grew significantly in popularity, partly because of its strategic acquisition of users from a number of recently shut-down marketplaces, such as AlphaBay and Incognito Market, which had recently closed their doors. Table 1 presents descriptive analysis of the total number of listings, the number of active listings and the total sales (as proxied by feedbacks) recording the dataset overall.
Darknet Markets In Australia
Shipping drugs internationally from Australia doesn’t carry as much risk as you would think, Dr Martin says. “Despite what we see in the news about an epidemic, there’s not really that many ice users in the country,” Dr Martin said. “Our drugs tend to be quite expensive in the international sense, so they’re not really competitive when we look at it compared to Europe or the United States.” The easy-to-use site allows Australians to buy and sell illicit substances in large quantities. Agora was unaffected by Operation Onymous, an international crackdown from November 2014 where authorities shut down several major online dark markets, most notably Silk Road. A 2022 systemic review of pill testing found people who found unexpected substances in their drugs were more likely to discard them and adjust their use.
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More than six years after the demise of Silk Road, the world’s first major drug cryptomarket, the dark web is still home to a thriving trade in illicit drugs. Dark web marketplaces selling everything from drugs to stolen identity documents and phished credit card numbers began to emerge a decade ago with the arrival of Silk Road. Australian drug dealers are cashing in on booming “dark web” marketplaces, where buying illicit substances is cheap and convenient, and it’s virtually impossible to be caught. 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.
Among the various illicit digital markets, the drug trade is one of the most prominent. In 2024, darknet marketplaces generated over US$1.7 billion in cryptocurrency-enabled drug transactions, marking year-on-year growth of over 20%. This trend corresponds with a systematic increase in the criminal market scores relating to illicit drugs in the latest Global Organized Crime Index. These scores measure the pervasiveness and impact of various illicit economies and activities, and in 2023 all drug market indicators worsened compared to the previous iteration of the Index. The global score for the heroin trade rose from 3.97 to 4.08, for cocaine from 4.52 to 4.82, for cannabis from 5.10 to 5.34 and for synthetic drugs from 4.62 to 4.95 out of 10. Indeed, between 2021 and 2023, every continent of the world experienced an average increase in drug scores for three out of the four drug markets the Index evaluates.
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When considering the sedative market in other countries, caution needs to be exercised. Norbutas (2018) found that markets are constrained by their wider geography, particularly border controls, and the findings from within the Schengen area countries are complex. Germany sedative sales are low, matching the findings of Novak et al. (2016), but claiming that this precludes there being high usage in that country would be overstating the evidence. The same can be said of the Netherlands, with its almost non-existent sedative market. Denmark and Austria both demonstrate high and consistent levels of sales for these products, and Sweden increased from a high base (over 20% of all sales) by close to 10 percentage points per year. Although Novak et al. reported high sedative usage in Sweden, for these three countries to have such exceptionally high levels is unusual and it is likely there is some cross-border/within-Schengen trade occurring.
Australia Emerges As A Leader In The Global Darknet Drugs Trade
Predominantly, psychiatric drugs with potent sedative, stimulant or euphoriant effects are sold on cryptomarkets and this varies by country. With some caveats regarding the limitations of cryptomarket digital trace data taken into account, the study of trends of these products sold online over time may offer a novel and increasingly important window onto wider drug purchasing habits. Australian cryptomarket vendors sell a wide variety of illicit drugs, and are disproportionately represented in global terms for sales of ecstasy, opioids and, particularly, methamphetamine. More than a quarter of the world’s darknet methamphetamine trade (27.1%) is facilitated by Australian cryptomarket dealers. According to research presented by the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association Conference, Australia is a leading country in the darknet drugs trade. The report highlights how we have more online drug vendors per capita than any other nation except for the Netherlands.
- In Barratt’s eyes, these far-from-straightforward results underscore the importance of expanding drug checking services.
- This protects vendors from many risks that are prevalent in other forms of drug supply, including undercover police, predatory standover tactics where suppliers may be robbed, assaulted or even killed by competitors, and customers who may inform on their supplier if caught.
- The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1928 also contains offences related to elections such as failing to vote.
- Direct comparison of usage rates by country is scant, despite the attention these products have received from the media internationally.
- Researchers in Australia investigated the online drug market by analyzing 103 samples purchased from anonymous platforms or cryptomarkets.
Apart from the dark web markets that are operating online today, some raided platforms influenced many markets. WeTheNorth is a Canadian market established in 2021 that also serves international users. It offers counterfeit documents, financial fraud tools, hacking and malware services. It has an active forum and community along with an extensive user vetting process. Believe it or not, some dark web marketplaces have pretty advanced systems for building trust.
When buying drugs on the dark web, customers are encouraged to buy in bulk, with significantly lower rates being offered for purchases over a certain quantity. “There’s a lot going on the dark web now and this research shows the impact of complex transnational law enforcement operations.” AIC Deputy Director Dr Rick Brown said the research results highlight the importance of sustained law enforcement operations. “We found markets close down and pop up again with a refreshed set of security features, price hikes or even self-regulation of the kinds of products sold to avoid the spotlight. “When there is a crackdown there is a knock on effect, it is like a searchlight and markets become aware that they are going to get a bright light shined on them for that particular product, especially high risk product such as fentanyl.
