Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: gestaltassault2 on September 25, 2012, 02:37 pm
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http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/2012/045.html
Creators And Operators Of On-Line Narcotics Marketplace On The TOR Network Arrested On First Of Its Kind Federal Indictment Charging Drug Trafficking In 34 Countries And 50 States
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2012
LOS ANGELES - Federal, state, and international law enforcement authorities have arrested eight people who all face federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges stemming from their creation and operation of a “secret” on-line narcotics market place – known as the “The Farmer's Market” – which sold a variety of controlled substances to approximately 3,000 customers in 34 countries and 50 states.
This morning, law enforcement authorities in Lelystad, Netherlands, arrested the lead defendant, Marc Willems, at his home. Yesterday, law enforcement officials in Bogota, Colombia, arrested the second defendant, Michael Evron, a United States citizen who lives in Argentina, as he was attempting to leave Colombia. The remaining defendants, Jonathan Colbeck, Brian Colbeck, Ryan Rawls, Jonathan Dugan, George Matzek, and Charles Bigras were arrested at their respective homes in Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.
The 66-page indictment, which was unsealed today, was the result of “Operation Adam Bomb,” a two-year investigation led by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division, with significant assistance by the Netherlands Regional Police Force Flevoland, prosecutors from the International Legal Assistance Center North East Netherlands, United States Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the DEA’s country office in Hague, and the United States Postal Service. The arrests of the defendants took place due to the cooperation and assistance of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, the Colombian Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence, Migracion Colombia, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and Federal/State/Local authorities in New York, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey.
“Illegal narcotics trafficking now reaches every corner of our world, including our home computers,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr., whose office is handling the prosecution of the case. “But the reach of the law is just as long, and the Department of Justice will work with its partners, both nationally and internationally, to bring narcotics traffickers to justice, wherever they may hide. Working together, we want to make the Internet a safe and secure marketplace by rooting out and prosecuting those persons who seek to illegally pervert and exploit that market.”
“The drug trafficking organization targeted in Operation Adam Bomb was distributing dangerous and addictive drugs to every corner of the world, and trying to hide their activities through the use of advanced anonymizing on-line technology,” said Briane M. Grey, DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge. “Today's action should send a clear message to organizations that are using technology to conduct criminal activity that the DEA and our law enforcement partners will track them down and bring them to justice.”
The 12-count indictment charges that each of the defendants was a member of a conspiracy to distribute a variety of controlled substances world-wide through the use of on-line marketplaces that allowed independent sources of supply to anonymously advertise illegal drugs for sale to the public. According to the indictment, the operators of the on-line marketplaces provided a controlled substances storefront, order forms, on-line forums, customer service, and payment methods for the different sources of supply. For customers, the operators screened all sources of supply and guaranteed delivery of the illegal drugs. The on-line marketplaces handled all communications between the sources of supply and customers. For these services, the operators charged a commission based upon the value of the order. Customers of the on-line marketplaces have been identified in every one of the states of the United States and the District of Columbia and in approximately 34 other countries. There are thousands of registered users of the on-line marketplaces. The on-line marketplaces have multiple sources of supply offering various controlled substances, including LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), fentanyl, mescaline, ketamine, DMT, and high-end marijuana. Between January 2007 and October 2009 alone, defendants Willems and Evron processed approximately 5,256 on-line orders for controlled substances valued at approximately $1,041,244 via the on-line controlled substances marketplaces.
As alleged in the indictment, the Farmers Market, previously known as Adamflowers, operated on the TOR network. According to the indictment, TOR is a circuit of encrypted connections through relays on the TOR network that can be downloaded on home computers. TOR allows websites and electronic mail communications to completely mask IP address information by spreading communications over a series of computers, or relays, located throughout the world. The on-line marketplaces have accepted Western Union, Pecunix, PayPal, I-Golder, and cash as payment for illegal drug sales.
According to investigators, this drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) attempted to operate online in secrecy, utilizing the TOR network, IP anonymizers, and covert currency transactions; but investigators were able to infiltrate the DTO and its technology during the course of the investigation.
Those arrested were:
Marc Willems, 42, a Dutch citizen living in Lelystad, Netherlands
Michael Evron, 42, a United States citizen living in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jonathan Colbeck, 51, of Urbana, Iowa
Brian Colbeck, 47, of Coldwater, Michigan
Ryan Rawls, 31, of Alpharetta, Georgia
Jonathan Dugan, 27, of North Babylon, New York
George Matzek, 20, of Secaucus, New Jersey
Charles Bigras, 37, of Melbourne, Florida
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.
Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life, and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. Defendants Willems, Evron, Jonathan Colbeck, Brian Colbeck, and Rawls are also charged with the distribution of LSD, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life. Finally, defendants Willems and Evron are charged with participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life and a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.
In addition to those named in the indictment, authorities arrested 7 other people this morning (2 in Netherlands, 1 in Atlanta, 2 in New Hampshire, 1 in Pennsylvania, and 1 in New Jersey). During the course of the arrests made in this case, federal agents and local law enforcement officers also seized substances identified as hashish, LSD and MDMA, as well as an indoor psychotropic mushroom grow, and 3 indoor marijuana grows.
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The on-line marketplaces have accepted Western Union, Pecunix, PayPal, I-Golder, and cash as payment for illegal drug sales.
Well, in this case was just a matter of time. But they might have been smarter than I think if it took the cops two years to bust them.
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This was discussed heavily when OAB was first made public. The folks at Farmer's Market were looser in their security and took forms of payment other than BTC, so we at SR are much safer.
"The on-line marketplaces have accepted Western Union, Pecunix, PayPal, I-Golder, and cash as payment for illegal drug sales."
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Pecunix is pretty damn secure if you use it correctly.
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Pecunix is pretty damn secure if you use it correctly.
Perhaps, but then when you consider that the operators of TFM used Hushmail..... Their security setup was a disaster -- I've even seen postings made by people who claimed to know them IRL, and they stated these guys were warned repeatedly that what they were doing wasn't safe, yet they continued to ignore this advice and just merrilly carried on, doing business as usual.
Guru
I don't know them IRL but I did warn them repeatedly that what they were doing wasn't safe. But Pecunix is pretty much like having a numbered bank account. You just need to get an ATM card to cash it out and it is very secure. Some of the biggest vendors in the history of the online scene have used it and none of them have been busted via Pecunix being pwnt, and none have had funds frozen either. You just need to know how to properly take it and cash it out.
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now I am not a vendor, but I had a pecunix account of mine frozen a week before the TFM bust for violation of TOS. There wasn't big money in it, so I wrote it off. I had used that account to pay TFM in the past however, so I assumed it was connected.
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Everyone here seems to have missed the question..
Can it happen to SR????
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now I am not a vendor, but I had a pecunix account of mine frozen a week before the TFM bust for violation of TOS. There wasn't big money in it, so I wrote it off. I had used that account to pay TFM in the past however, so I assumed it was connected.
Hm maybe things have changed then. I know Enelysion and Tarpaulin were publicly taking Pecunix on OVDB and none of their accounts were frozen. I would say the 'proper' way to take pecunix is full account transfer, ie: customer loads account with pecunix, sends account passwords to the vendor, vendor changes account info and eventually transfers the gold to a secondary account (better yet is to make a new account per customer). However, prior to this I had not heard of Pecunix freezing any account regardless of how it was used, so I stand corrected.
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Everyone here seems to have missed the question..
Can it happen to SR????
you mean can LE come up with a not so clever name for their investigation into SR that is already going on? yes. Probably operation road grader or re-paver or operation silk cravat.
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Everyone here seems to have missed the question..
Can it happen to SR????
Certainly, if we were to start using the unsafe payment methods that The Farmer's Market were using. Seriously, Western Union for payment of illegal goods..
All it takes is one camera to pick you up either in, entering or leaving the Western Union agent at the time the transfer is picked up, and if there's enough CCTV around they'll be able to track you as far as your car or anywhere else you may go.
They get your plate number number and they get you. Game over. And that's just one possible scenario of hundreds - the cheapest, quickest and easiest one.
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If people start accepting bank transfer, cash, WU and not using PGP encrypted communications ( Hushmail gave feds backdoor access to all these guys communications ) .. then yes it can be compromised.
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Agreed! They are going to have to get a hell of a lot more devious to bring down SR....SR is pretty secure if used correctly unlike TFM, like everyone else was pointing out they left a trail of LOAVES OF BREAD in their financial transactions, then of course being sold out by Hushmail was the final nail in the coffin..They are going to infilitrate SR via the forum and setting up phony buyer/vendor accounts not to mention using the media to completely smear SR...I wish people would stop talking to the asshole media, I see them posting in the forum asking questions claiming there here to give a fair voice to SR and its user and then they go and write a report on how SR gives anonymous access to GUNS, HEROINE, COCAINE, and every other hard drug while failing to mention the support that addicts can get via SR and the amount of safety the community provides by reporting people lacing there products with deadly agents, or the fact that SR takes the harmless drug trade out of its harmful real world environment....We have to remain vigilant to weed these stupid bastards out of our community cause they are already here guaranteed.. Anything Suspicious needs to reported here in the forum no matter how minute it may seem you never know when there is a pig on the other side of the screen wallowing in his own shit just giddy to have us biting our finger nails......LONG LIVE SR and LONG LIVE DPR!!!!
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Everyone here seems to have missed the question..
Can it happen to SR????
I hate to sound like Capt. Obvious but yes, of course it can happen. The U.S. can also nuke China tomorrow and Mitt Romney can stop acting like a douchebag too. Anything is possible. :)
But seriously, it's all about risk profile and acceptable risk. Vendors and buyers alike should endeavor to minimize their risk profile, assess their risk tolerance, and never stray from it. Just as an example, there's a couple of vendors who I'd like to buy from who don't use PGP. I immediately tagged as high risk and I refuse to do business with them. My loss...maybe...but I'm not willing to accept that risk.
I truly go the extra mile to reduce risks so I walk the Road feeling relatively safe. It's the newbies, the lazy, and the arrogant that are going to get busted here.
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You can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of law enforcement agencies around the world are investing lots of time, money and resources into devising a method (or methods) of taking SR and other hidden sites down. IMO, anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves. Obviously SR has had the benefit of learning from past mistakes made by other sites, but there is no doubt SR is proving to be a much more difficult task to shut down with PGP heavily used and promoted, bitcoins the only form of payment available and the sites servers not able to be located at this stage. We can never be complacent or under estimate the Police. If you suspect someone or something doesn't seem right, remember the old adage - "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck!" :)
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remember the old adage - "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck!" :)
i think you mean pig
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remember the old adage - "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck!" :)
i think you mean pig
Big LOL
Question for all: Should vendors require customers to use PGP?
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If I recall correctly, the Farmers market's primary weaknesses were
1) The use of Paypal to move funds.
2) the use of Hushmail, a webmail service in Canada that uses cryptography but they are able to insert a keystroke recorder in the java login, so the passwords were compromised and given to LE.
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Well lets hope SR and tor stay one step ahead oh the law,.. but what happens if SR or tor does get compromised? Are there safe guards in affect to at least advise us that someone has "hacked" tor or SR and are trying to break us
or will it be like ripping off a band-aid... quick and efficient??
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Well lets hope SR and tor stay one step ahead oh the law,.. but what happens if SR or tor does get compromised? Are there safe guards in affect to at least advise us that someone has "hacked" tor or SR and are trying to break us
or will it be like ripping off a band-aid... quick and efficient??
the only safeguard we could even remotely be aware of is the one created for vendors. it seems, in the case of an emergency, our wallets will clear out and funds will disperse straight into whatever BTC address we have on file.
do moderators of the forum have access to privileged information regarding further safeguards? or, are they as in the dark as the rest of us? lol :P
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We had like 2,000 threads about this topic back when it actually happened. We all decided that it was very unlikely to happen here. I mean it them TWO YEARS to take down a site that was using e-mails and Western Union transfers. They were too sure of their own success. Just remember to always cover your tracks and be secure and you're less likely to get caught.
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i can assure you very smart individuals are right now plotting and investigating this site. My hat is off to them as well. they have already nabbed a few vendors. Was is due to their outside behaviour? Drug dealing in their neighborhood? or was it cashing out bitcoins? who knows, but there are weaknesses within peoples behaviour. Vendors could send 10 50g packages to Scotland Yard safe house addresses without knowing it, and if they want you, I am sure they will get you.
as for us buyers, who knows. The end user here is hopefully taking necessary precautions, and playing it safe. I for one have never ordered anything larger than 7g (and that was cannabis) If you are just getting your kicks, you should just blend in with the crowd...
it is a cat and mouse game, as old as time. Respect to all players in this game... on both sides