A Quick Insight into Norway’s Darknet
A darknet marketplace isn’t very different from an e-commerce site. The only difference is that the darknet users are anonymous. Users download free browsers like Tor to access this marketplace and the dark web. Regular browsers can’t visit sites with onion addresses, but Tor can.
Contents
What Will You Find There?
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have allowed two parties to conduct secure transactions without knowing each other’s identities, which has allowed the dark web to grow. When it comes to the expansion of the dark web, Bitcoin has been a key factor.
Despite the fact that nearly all dark web commerce sites accept Bitcoin or a similar cryptocurrency as payment, this does not guarantee that transactions are secure. Scammers and criminals are drawn to the area because of its natural secrecy, but what can you expect when your goal is to purchase weapons or drugs?
Even though dark web commerce sites contain many of the same features as regular e-commerce sites, such as customer ratings and reviews, shopping carts, and discussion boards, there are some key distinctions to be made. The first is quality assurance. It is difficult to trust a rating system when both buyers and vendors are anonymous. With so much room for manipulation in the crypto-coin rating system, it’s not surprising to see even long-time merchants disappear with their clients’ funds just to reappear later under another name.
E-commerce firms typically offer some form of service that holds customers’ money until a product has been delivered. If there is a problem, don’t expect customer support to be friendly. In the end, the battle is between the buyer and the seller. To complete any transaction, you must have a PGP key.
Even completing a transaction does not ensure the delivery of the ordered items. Many packages must travel across international borders, and customs agents are tightening down on packages they suspect are questionable. According to real-world economics: The price you pay for the theft of your data fluctuates as the market shifts.
Norway, as it turns out, stands out in terms of what is usually sold in the dark market. Apart from the regular marijuana, mushrooms and drugs, there is a large market for alcohol. As alcohol, and beer specifically, cannot be advertised in mass media, the companies have taken to the darknet to sell their products.
Popular Darknet Markets in Norway
We look at the most commonly used darknet markets in Norway.
AlphaBay
AlphaBay is an online marketplace and forum dedicated to the sale of all black-market goods. Sticky listings, featured listings, auto shops, Monero as a payment, PGP-signed addresses, and shared account access for vendors were all introduced by this marketplace.
With a view to building the next generation of decentralized marketplaces, DeSnake has begun construction. There is a new version that will allow vendors from all over the world to join together and create the future. Because of the network’s security, it will be impossible for the government to conduct takedowns, which is a welcome development for the darknet market.
Vice City
The Darknet market Vice City, which took its name from the 2002 installment of the hugely popular Grand Theft Auto video game series, was first launched in May of that year. An appealing user interface appears to have been designed from the ground up. Just over 7,000 products are currently listed on Vice City Market, the majority of which are associated with drugs and pharmaceuticals. Vice City appears to have been set up from the start to be capable of accepting a variety of cryptocurrencies. Currently, however, they only accept Bitcoin as a form of payment (BTC).
ASAP
There are few markets that carry more Digital Goods than pharmaceuticals, especially when you consider the Fraud segment, which is rather significant in ASAP. There are some uncommon and hard-to-find digital items in addition to the normal instructions and lessons that can be accessed elsewhere for free, though.
The ability to view the market without the need to form an account or log in is a fantastic feature of ASAP. This makes it simple to determine whether the market is appropriate before registering. This market has a smaller pool of experienced vendors, but they do span a larger geographic area, and some have made hundreds of sales on ASAP alone.
Bohemia
Newer darknet markets, like Bohemia, have been gaining momentum since the shutdown of the White House Market in August. With a user-friendly design, it supports both Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (MMR) (XMR). Only the usual market escrow and Finalize Early (FE) payment methods are available, and not all vendors are FE-enabled. Payment alternatives are limited. Standard darknet market fare, excluding fentanyl and covid products, is available. On Dread and other darknet forums, Bohemia has a strong presence, addressing the worries and difficulties of its users.
DarkFox
This market has survived and thrived, bringing in more customers and increasing the number of product listings faster than ever before. Drugs account for almost 30% of all market listings, which number around 7,000 in total. Using DarkFox’s UI, you can quickly find anything you’re looking for.
The product listings on DarkFox Market can be seen without logging in. This entails looking through significant listings and the material of specific categories. By allowing people to “window shop” before registering, DarkFox gained more users.
Attempting to interpret the clock face as part of a captcha is a simple mistake that can be easily avoided. Be prepared to spend some time verifying your identity. The Bitcoin-only nature of the market may be a turn-off for certain customers.
The Unfortunate Side Effect: Youth and Drugs
Apart from buying alcohol, the younger population of Norway uses the darkweb for drug purchases. According to a study in Frontier Psychology, for those who had ever tried drugs, the Oslo area was home to the highest prevalence in Northern Norway. Between the cities of Stavanger, Trondheim, and Bergen, there was no statistical difference in the number of people who had ever tried drugs. Last year, the reported use of synthetic cannabinoids, heroin, and (meth)amphetamine varied little by location.
All other drugs, however, showed regional variation. It was found that there were greater geographical variations in the use of cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, LSD/psilocybin, ecstasy, and other illegal drugs, while the variations were less pronounced in the use of GHB and Ritalin®. When compared to the rest of the country, the Oslo region reported using cannabis, cocaine, GHB, Ritalin®, MDMA, LSD/psilocybin, and other unspecified drugs more frequently than the rest.
The lowest overall rate of drug use was found in Northern Norway. There were no significant intraclass correlations, despite the fact that different locations used different drugs. This suggests that there is little drug use among the various study groups. It is strongly suggested, based on reviews, that more than 40% of them get their supply from the dark side of the internet.
How Does Shipping Go Unnoticed?
Concealed from view. Using standard delivery is one of the safer options. Someone working for a mystery delivery service is responsible for delivering the goods. Pizza delivered to the wrong address? Maybe it is your package in disguise!
When it comes to shipping goods from the dark web, delivery is fairly straightforward, but the term “stealth” refers to the level of camouflage and disguise used by vendors. The same way as everything else: by mail and, if it’s a larger item, by freight and/or air shipping.
There are usually two ways this is done:
- X-rays, sniffer dogs, and other external examinations do not indicate that a package contains illegal drugs; if customs officials or postal inspectors open a given package, it should not be immediately apparent that it contains an illegal substance.
- Moisture barrier bags are the most commonly used packaging material, and authorities should always be on the lookout for them due to the volume of mail that passes through the system every day.
Norway’s Biggest Drug Bust Happened Online
Silk Road, an anonymous online marketplace for the sale of illicit drugs, was shut down by the FBI in 2013, and that is where the case started. American authorities gained access to a list of sellers and customers after a second version of the website was taken down. Hundreds of Norwegian traders who had previously worked on the Silk Road were among them. Other aliases used by the operators on the dark web included “Alfa&Omega,” “Deeeplove,” and “Kvalitetsbevisst.”
Fifteen people were arrested as a result of Kripo’s first and largest sting operation against organized drug trafficking in Norway on the dark web, including five men suspected of being the country’s biggest online drug dealers.
Marco Polo had a difficult time tracking the money, as the majority of transactions were made with Bitcoin. There are rumors that many of the purchasers are young, inexperienced drug users who wouldn’t have easy access to a traditional black market for drugs. They claim that if it weren’t for the convenience of dark web markets, the youths would never have purchased drugs.
Conclusion
With the rise of camouflage in technology, the darkweb is going to get more intricate, and marketplaces will become more difficult to spot and take down. However, Norwegian authorities are investing every resource possible to ensure the safety of their citizens.