Assessing the Practices of Online Counterfeit Currency Vendors

Holt, Thomas J.; Lee, Jin R.; O’Dell, Elizabeth

doi:10.1177/00111287221134047

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…It is important to note that the current study did not include any information that could be traced to an identifiable subject or IP address. Moreover, no direct quotes or participant/vendor names were included in this analysis (see Holt, 2013; Holt et al., 2022; Markham, 2011). All data were anonymized for the analyses, thereby limiting any likelihood of identification of vendors, buyers, or victims whose sensitive data may have been compromised.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point

Lee

2023

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research SummaryThe current study examined 1055 stolen data products across 40 vendors on the Open and Dark Web to determine whether different product‐ and vendor‐level behaviors predicted vendors’ trustworthiness as reflected in their product price point. Understanding the mechanisms that convey trust in the underground marketplace is crucial as it could help law enforcement target serious actors and disrupt the larger marketplace. Findings suggest the online stolen data market may resemble an uninformative cost condition where buyers are unable to accurately differentiate credible sellers due to the obscure nature of signaling behaviors.Policy ImplicationsLaw enforcement would benefit from designing fake shops and deceptive forum posts that transmit mixed signals to complicate market participants’ process of interpreting trust signals as intended. These interventions would generate high levels of risk that encourage both buyers and sellers to exit the online illicit marketplace without needing law enforcement arrests. Law enforcement could also target prominent market facilitators to generate a larger disruption that prevents actors from continuing their illicit behavior.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point

Lee

2023

Criminology & Public Policy

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“…Darknet research examines various illicit goods and services, predominantly illicit drugs [40,47,58], and to a lesser extent stolen data [59], malware and hacking services [41,60], firearms [61], wildlife [62,63], intellectual property [64], and counterfeit identity documents [65,66] and money [67], among other DNM offerings. While there are several studies that focus on drugs in darknet markets, there is limited research on DNM fentanyl markets.…”

Section: Fentanyl and Dnmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoding hidden darknet networks: What we learned about the illicit fentanyl trade on AlphaBay

Maras

Logie

Arsovska

et al. 2023

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The opioid epidemic, impacted from the proliferation of fentanyl, has added impetus to the need to detect fentanyl, sources of fentanyl, and places where fentanyl and drugs adulterated with fentanyl are available. Many darknet marketplaces (DNMs) have rules that ban fentanyl. However, it is unclear how these affect the fentanyl market. Using the AlphaBay DNM as a case study, we conducted mixed methods qualitative research. We scraped and analyzed data from the AlphaBay I2P website using, among other methods, content and social network analysis, to uncover hidden fentanyl networks. Our research highlights the next evolution of darknet marketplaces – the migration of DNMs from Tor to I2P and the methods that can be used identify fentanyl networks, irrespective of where sites are: I2P, Tor, or multihomed on I2P and Tor. Despite its ban in the Global AlphaBay Rules, our research revealed the sale of fentanyl on the AlphaBay DNM. Unlike previous studies, our findings predominantly revealed the covert sale of fentanyl on AlphaBay and predatory vendors selling illicit drugs, which unbeknownst to buyers, contained fentanyl. To a lesser extent, our findings identified the overt sale of fentanyl patches on AlphaBay. Although we examined only one DNM, the prevalence of the covert sale of fentanyl and the presence of predatory vendors underscores the importance of research that decodes the language of vendors who surreptitiously sell fentanyl or drugs adulterated with fentanyl or other illicit substances. The results of our research can inform strategies aimed at disrupting and dismantling DNM fentanyl networks.

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Illuminating the dark web market of fraudulent identity documents and personal information: An international and Australian perspective

Devlin,

Chadwick,

Moret

et al. 2024

Forensic Science International

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Assessing the Practices of Online Counterfeit Currency Vendors

Cited by 4 publications

References 42 publications

Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point

Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point

Decoding hidden darknet networks: What we learned about the illicit fentanyl trade on AlphaBay

Illuminating the dark web market of fraudulent identity documents and personal information: An international and Australian perspective

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