While this topic may seem distant for most people, understanding how these spaces operate is crucial. It helps us stay more vigilant, better protect ourselves, and make informed decisions online. “We are referring information regarding our two dark web purchases to applicable law-enforcement agencies to inform any ongoing investigations for any further action they deem appropriate,” the report states. Most Government Accountability Office reports present a wealth of information, but relatively few involve undercover agents and semiautomatic rifles.
As a researcher at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, I’ve been keeping track of this and many other cases around the world involving the production and use of 3D-printed guns. At the intersection between weapons and drugs, another vendor offers a range of poisons and venoms. Some of the products sold, such as Polonium or VX, make us doubt the veracity of the offer. In this chapter, we will cover the most common ones, namely weapons, drugs, forgeries, and financial services. The last section will examine rarer items and urban legends (hitmen and Red Rooms). Nevertheless, vendors were identified that offered human trafficking services and other darknet services, such as hitman and hacking for hire.
Australians have access to a wide variety of untraceable ‘ghost guns’ online along with a significant market of 3D printed weapon blueprints and kits, according to a new study from The Australian National University (ANU). No, purchasing firearms on the dark web is illegal and highly risky, often involving fraud and legal consequences. Scientific journals often put their articles behind a paywall or charge high fees for access, but Sci-Hub offers open-access to read or download research papers. While it’s a deep resource, it’s also technically illegal in many countries because it violates copyright restrictions, so check out the laws in your area before visiting.
Which Darknet Markets Are Up
Traditional weapons trafficking often faces geographical limitations, hampered by border control and customs checks. Conversely, the dark web permits sellers from one country to reach buyers in another without crossing international borders physically. This capacity to transcend geographical boundaries complicates law enforcement efforts, as legislation and enforcement vary by country. Historically, weapons trafficking involved physical exchanges in seedy backrooms or secluded locations.
Uncovering Information On A Dark Web Gun Seller 🔗︎
Doing so we have gained an understanding of what we can gain by monitoring the Darknet. Bartsmit claims to have made 60 to 70 different scam accounts over the past two years on various markets, creating a fresh moniker every one to two weeks. We’re back with another video in our Webz Insider video series on everything web data. STYX Market focuses specifically on financial fraud, making it a go-to destination for cybercriminals engaged in this activity. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. A huge selection of weaponry is available to virtually anyone around the globe at the click of button, without the involvement of any laws.
Are There Safer Alternatives For Buying Firearms?
It is still possible to be traced and arrested for purchasing guns on the dark web. The report offers no recommendations — the results of the undercover test, GAO says, “are illustrative and nongeneralizable.” The challenge of law enforcement in the hidden reaches of the internet persists. The dark web gun market may seem enticing to some, but the potential consequences far outweigh any perceived benefits.
Is It Legal To Buy Guns On The Dark Web?
That makes an untraceable gun, or a gun with a fake serial number—as is the Armory’s stated specialty—much more valuable. Far from being hidden on obscure dark-web forums, Duygu’s designs are relatively easy to access. For Wilson and many others who followed in his digital footsteps, 3D-printed guns were an ideological issue. The original Liberator blueprint inspired others to develop new designs, and so a variety of gun enthusiasts, tech hobbyists, and libertarian ideologues began coalescing online.
Where Guns Are Sold Through The Darknet
This organized structure has led to increased ease of use, further encouraging the growth of this illegal trade. The study, produced for Australian Institute of Criminology tracked darknet markets between July and December 2019 and found 2,124 weapons for sale – 1,497 handguns, 219 rifles, 41 submachine guns and 34 shotguns. It points out, however, that one or two weapons in the wrong people’s hands can cause “severe consequences.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. What this case shows is that although the purchasing of weapons on the dark web may be taking place online, there is always a physical trail that can be picked up by police. The gun serial number, the car used to pick up the weapon, the physical identification of the seller, and, of course, the fingerprints on the gun.
What Are The Risks Associated With Purchasing Guns On The Dark Web?
The same can be said of Black Market Reloaded and every Dark Web market that has come since. Often, it works out for early birds well enough because, even if a market is a scam—and they can be big scams—swindlers will want to please the first customers in order to attract a bigger, richer crowd from which to pilfer bitcoins. Vendors on the dark web have honed their delivery tactics for weapons over the years through lengthy discussions on forums. The most common strategy is to disassemble weapons into many different parts that are then sent in different packages. Some parts are embedded in less conspicuous items like old stereos or printers to avoid detection. “What I found most surprising was that most of what we saw wasn’t rifles of military-grade weapons,” Holt says.
Three men were found guilty of committing crimes with terrorist intent and given jail terms. In the UK, a teenager who reportedly took inspiration from the Unabomber was arrested in May 2023 after printing parts of the FGC-9. Jacob Graham was also accused of possessing bomb-making chemicals and publishing a guide on how to commit acts of terrorism.
The open source design—which was quickly shared in many like-minded chatrooms—was accompanied by a meticulous, step-by-step instructional guide akin to an Ikea assembly booklet. All of this, the gun’s creator wrote, was to overcome “regulations and tyrannical laws” on gun ownership. The photos of the weapons contain a watermark to prevent others from copying and reusing them on fake sites. Some sites will simply sate that their stealth precautions are robust and therefore good for the buyers but – but do not publicly more details. Others promise that they use the “best equipment” for the “highest stealth and security possible” – or reassure customers that they are experts in some other manner.
- The flow of weapons from the United States to organized crime groups (as the indictment above indicates) such as CJNG can then be leveraged by criminal groups to trade for drugs in Colombia, which will travel to Mexico and the United States.
- Despite that, Europe actually represents the largest market for firearms on the darknet with revenues around five times higher than the United States.
- The most common strategy is to disassemble weapons into many different parts that are then sent in different packages.
- Over half of the weapons for sale are from the US, with the revenue from Europe five times higher than from domestic sales through the dark web.
- But since then, more reliable and effective designs have been released on the internet, culminating in the the FGC-9.
Specifically, GAO agents purchased and received an AR-15 rifle and an Uzi that the seller said was modified so that it would fire automatically. Our team searched the dark web and put together a list of the most active dark web marketplaces in order to assist you in monitoring illegal trade of products, cybercrime activity, and dark web trends in the dark web space. The agency has allocated $4 million to that effort and will hire 200 new agents to track sales, reports Fast Company.
Learn how to automate financial risk reports using AI and news data with this guide for product managers, featuring tools from Webz.io and OpenAI. Established in 2022, Torzon market is one of the biggest and most diverse marketplaces on the dark web. It is considered very secure thanks to strict user validations and transparent payment and vendor review procedures. Analysing the ‘supplier ID’ for an indication of the country of origin (e.g. ‘balkanweapons’, ‘dutchmarket’ and ‘USuser’). The overall value of the arms listings examined by Rand was estimated at roughly $80,000, of which handgun made up 90 percent.
