(The following is an excerpt from “Crypto Crimes: Inside India's Best-Kept Secret” by Mitali Mukherjee. Published with permission of HarperCollins. Subheadings added by NDTV for ease of reading)
The dark web is becoming more and more powerful and India ranks high on the list of users. According to a 2019 Statista study, India accounts for 26% of the world's population using the dark web, making it the most used in the world.
ease of doing business
Here's what we know about the highly opaque dark web, and how the pharmaceutical market is surviving and thriving in India. Due to its completely hidden nature, the number of users of the dark web in India is not clear. One cryptocurrency expert, who wishes to remain anonymous, explains with a laugh: “Even college students are now using it to ghostwrite assignments for a fee.” What's clear is that the number is growing every year. In the early days, people didn't know how to use or access browsers, but now browsers are public and downloading is easy. And it's free. It's also unclear which age group is most active on these dark web sites. What's obvious is what's on sale. Gambling, drugs, child pornography, data breaches. The dark web is full of unsuspecting Indian nationals' Aadhaar details and passwords. Indian people are very lax when it comes to passwords. While the largest amount of money in India is currently in the gambling market, fraudsters have access to a large amount of personal and leaked information of many ordinary Indians. ”
More people are buying drugs on the dark web than ever before in recorded history. In the 2021 Global Drug Survey, 26 researchers found that in 2020, 15% of survey participants who reported using drugs in the past 12 months had either purchased them directly from dark web marketplaces or from others. It was discovered that the drugs were obtained through The proportion of such people has tripled since 2014, when the survey first began measuring the trend.
How does the currently thriving drug market work for buyers and sellers on the dark web?
- first step: Select your website. Buyers typically choose a vendor with a reputation for on-time delivery.
- Step 2: Create an account and username on that website.
- Step 3: Purchases are given a wallet address and a deadline. The buyer must pay within that time and share a screenshot confirming the payment was completed. The moment your payment is OK, your order will be processed.
Two features are important in this process. That is, there is an intermediary, i.e. the handler of the website, and that payments are only made in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin remains the most popular coin in these sales, and the drugs available range from purple hash to various types of cocaine, top-quality cannabis, LSD, and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
Indian players are the smartest, changing the names of their sites frequently to ensure that the actual coordinates of where these deadly substances are located are never revealed. Little is known about them, but veterans of the field hint at one type. Often referred to as “technologists” – young people with great minds in all things technological, and perhaps a penchant for crime.
Arrest of Deepu Singh
Social media pictures of Dipu Singh, a 21-year-old bachelor who studied hotel management from Amity University in Lucknow, show him well-dressed in a suit, with a neatly trimmed beard and a big smile. A young man is pictured. The son of a retired army officer, Dipu seemed to have a bright and exciting future ahead of him. Until he was arrested by NCB on January 31, 2020.
NCB describes Dipu Singh as India's first drug vendor to be arrested on the dark web. He is accused of being the mastermind behind hundreds of drug packages secretly delivered to the US, UK and many countries in Europe using the dark web and cryptocurrencies.
It started under the most common clothed sex pills. Dipu began by using the dark web to ship erectile dysfunction-related medications and fitness supplements to overseas locations. When he saw the profit margins on psychotropic drugs, his strategy changed. He quickly became a major player on the dark web. His listings can be found on some of the largest and most trusted dark web markets such as Empire His Market and Majestic Garden. Orders were sourced from the dark web and routed through secure messaging platforms such as Wickr and WhatsApp. As his fame grew, so did his market.
“Operation Trance”
Unbeknownst to him, the International Narcotics Enforcement Commission had begun an investigation in December 2019 to gather information from officials in each country about these shipments. The NCB was currently participating in Operation Trans, a global joint intelligence-gathering operation on international mail, express and courier packages containing psychotropic drugs, which are abused as sedatives and painkillers.
In December 2019 alone, NCB officials in Delhi and Mumbai seized over 55,000 psychotropic tablets worth Rs 45 million from Delhi, Mumbai and the UK. In early January 2020, customs officials in Delhi seized the shipment. Its origins were traced back to Lucknow and all roads led to Dipu Singh.
His name was listed as an active vendor at Empire Market. Operating under the username “Mr. Robo,” he created a fake ID and attempted to purchase several drugs. The investigation found that payment gateways for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin were being used by operators to hide transactions from regulators.
small fish in the huge sea
Singh's interrogation, compiled from news reports and the Drug Enforcement Agency's own tweets, revealed that he was recruited into a drug ring in 2018 by a man who ran an online pharmacy and was offered a job delivering medicines online. It was revealed. By early 2019, Singh became involved in dark web markets and began illegally supplying psychotropic pills to overseas customers. At last count, he used the dark web to send more than 600 drug shipments, using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.
While law enforcement officials say this is a major victory, critics are quick to point out that the arrests are small fish in a larger sea. As Macksofy founder Yasir Shaikh explains, drug cartels and their associated gang warfare are now moving online. This means that there are frequent attacks that take competitors' websites offline. By selling directly to users, dealers reduce risk, cut out middlemen, and increase profit margins. But companies like Deep Singh represent a tiny fraction of what is a fast-growing global market. So while small vendors are sometimes arrested, large companies keep changing their names and a cat-and-mouse game with enforcement authorities continues.
(Disclaimer: The author and publisher of the book are solely responsible for the content of the book or any excerpts derived therefrom. NDTV shall not be liable for any claims arising from the content of the book, including claims of defamation, intellectual property rights, or other rights of third parties or the law).
