Going international? Risk taking by cryptomarket drug vendors

Décary‐Hétu, David; Paquet-Clouston, Masarah; Aldridge, Judith

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.06.003

Cited by 83 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Indeed, customers can easily verify the country of origin of the purchased product, when they received it by mail since it is stated on mails shipped internationally [8]. Thus, even if the possibility exists that sellers do not provide accurate information, it seems unlikely that they do so in regards to the shipping country and the products offered for sale [8,18,25]. In addition, the stated origin country tends to be accurate, as evidenced by studies based on darknet orders [19], seizures of postal parcels at the borders [43] and coherence between online information and knowledge regarding the offline market [8,9].…”

Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may be related to the role of these countries in the production of synthetic drugs, such as Ecstasy & MDMA and amphetamines (see section 3.5) [26,27]. In the same line, a relative easy access to illicit drugs in the domestic market would not stimulate local users to purchase substances on cryptomarkets and would motivate sellers to export to foreign customers [25]. A more competitive domestic market from vendors' point of view would have the same consequence.…”

Section: Trafficking Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Australian sellers only propose products to customers living within the country) or mainly in the United States. The domestic pattern may be explained by the intent of both customers and vendors to reduce their risks (such as parcel loss, interception by authorities or arrest) by selling or purchasing only within their country of residence [25]. Accordingly, Kruithof et al [20] mentioned that many vendors appear to be reluctant to ship to countries with stricter law enforcement and border controls such as Finland, Australia, the United States and Canada.…”

Section: Trafficking Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A geographical analysis of trafficking on a popular darknet market

Broséus

Rhumorbarbe

Morelato

et al. 2017

Forensic Science International

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Cryptomarkets are online marketplaces, located on the darknet, that facilitate the trading of a variety of illegal goods, mostly drugs. While the literature essentially focused on drugs, various other goods and products related to financial or identity fraud, firearms or counterfeit goods, as well as doping products are also offered on these marketplaces. Through the analysis of relevant data collected on a popular marketplace in 2014-2015, Evolution, this research provides an analysis of the structure of trafficking (types and proportions of products, number of vendors, shipping countries). It also aims at highlighting geographical patterns in the trafficking of these products (e.g. trafficking flows, specialisation of vendors, role in the distribution chain). The analysis of the flow of goods between countries emphasises the role of specific countries in the international and domestic trafficking, potentially informing law enforcement agencies to target domestic mails or international posts from specific countries. The research also highlights the large proportion of licit and illicit drug listings and vendors on Evolution, followed by various fraud issues (in particular, financial fraud), the sharing of knowledge (tutorials) and finally goods, currencies and precious metals (principally luxury goods). Looking at the country of origin, there seems to be a clear division between digital and physical products, with more specific information for physical goods. This reveals that the spatial analysis of trafficking is particularly meaningful in the case of physical products (such as illicit drugs) and to a lesser extent for digital products. Finally, the geographical analysis reveals that spatial patterns on Evolution tend to reflect the structure of the traditional illicit market. However, regarding illicit drugs, country-specificity have been observed and are presented in this article.

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Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trafficking Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trafficking Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A geographical analysis of trafficking on a popular darknet market

Broséus

Rhumorbarbe

Morelato

et al. 2017

Forensic Science International

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“…It is also important to bear in mind the fact that carders will deviate from the commonly perceived optimal norms established in tutorials and forum discussions (van Hardeveld, Webber & O'Hara, 2016). Some studies have already looked at under what conditions online drug vendors are willing to take risk, such as trade internationally (Décary--Hétu, Paquet--Clouston & Aldridge, 2016) and what the risk--reducing strategies are of actors on stolen data markets . Researchers' focus should lie more strongly on how and why deviations from the optimal usage of tools occur.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deviating From the Cybercriminal Script: Exploring Tools of Anonymity (Mis)Used by Carders on Cryptomarkets

Hardeveld

Webber

O’Hara

2017

American Behavioral Scientist

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This work presents an overview of some of the tools that cybercriminals employ in order to trade securely. It will look at the weaknesses of these tools and how the behaviour of cybercriminals will sometimes lead them to use tools in a non--optimal manner, creating opportunities for law enforcement to identify and apprehend them. The criminal domain this article focuses on is carding, the online trade in stolen payment card details and the consequent criminal misuse of such data. However, these findings could be applied more broadly, as many of the analysed tools are used across (cyber)criminal domains. This paper is a continuation of earlier work (van Hardeveld, Webber & O'Hara, 2016), in which a crime script analysis of 25 carding tutorials presented the tools that cybercriminals use to cash--out stolen payment card details while remaining anonymous. We use these tutorials and an analysis of the literature to identify how they can be used incorrectly and create a typology of potential behavioural and technological pitfalls in these tools. Finally, we conclude that finding pitfalls in the usage of tools by cybercriminals has the potential to increase the efficiency of disruption, interception and prevention approaches. However, in future work, interviews with law enforcement experts and convicted cybercriminals or still active users should be used to analyse the operational security of cybercriminals in more depth.

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“…Summarizing previous research, Barratt & Aldridge (2016) conclude that 'international drug trading is not an inevitable outcome of cryptomarket use'. Indeed, packages of drugs shipped across national borders may be subject to scrutiny by customs increasing the risk of detection (Décary-Hétu & Paquet-Clouston, 2016), introducing risks to both buyers and vendors. For the former, it also extends the time between a purchase is made and the time when the drugs can be used.…”

Section: Cryptomarkets As Disruptive Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going Local on a Global Platform

Demant

Aldridge

Décary‐Hétu

et al. 2018

International Criminal Justice Review

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Abstract:There is broad agreement in the literature on the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets, which allow sourcing on a global market and consequently the circumvention of existing supply chains between producer and end-user. We examine whether the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets has been realized in two ways: Are cryptomarket drug sellers found in production and transit countries? And do we see the increased use of shipping across international borders over time?Methods: Using data collected by the DATACRYPTO software tool between 2013 and 2016, we characterize cryptomarket buyer behavior through the product reviews (i.e. sales transactions) posted on 15 cryptomarkets.Findings: Cryptomarket drug sellers are predominantly based in countries of Europe, North America and Oceania. For both cannabis resin and cocaine sold on cryptomarkets, we find that known production and transit countries are not the primary sources of supplied drugs, but rather key countries of consumption. In the case of MDMA, we observe that the Netherlands, a known production country, is the largest supplier. We further observe tendencies over time towards increased localization of cryptomarkets with regards to product destinations. Discussion: Though cryptomarkets offer a potentially global platform for drug distribution, they do not tend to be used as such. We explain our results with reference to buyers' preferences regarding safety, risk and convenience, alongside structural limitations for cryptomarket use such as bitcoin availability.

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Going international? Risk taking by cryptomarket drug vendors

Abstract: Our results support some previous research findings on the factors explaining risk taking. We extend existing literature by emphasizing the relevance of the environment of drug dealers to predict risk taking.

Cited by 83 publications

References 44 publications

A geographical analysis of trafficking on a popular darknet market

A geographical analysis of trafficking on a popular darknet market

Deviating From the Cybercriminal Script: Exploring Tools of Anonymity (Mis)Used by Carders on Cryptomarkets

Going Local on a Global Platform

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