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Online markets selling drugs and other illegal substances on the dark web are starting to use custom Android apps to enhance their privacy and evade law enforcement.
In addition to ordering, these apps allow shop clients to communicate with drug vendors and provide specific delivery instructions.
This new trend was observed by Resecurity analysts early in the third quarter of 2022. This is believed to be a response to last year’s high-profile crackdown on darknet markets, particularly his Hydra Market crackdown.
Hydra is a leader in pharmaceutical distribution, with 19,000 registered distributors and 17 million customers worldwide. In April 2022, German authorities confiscated the server, leaving a vacuum on the scene.
Drug dealers moving to Android
As Resecurity reported today, several small players took advantage of Hydra’s sudden demise to try to usurp some of Hydra’s orphaned user base.
Here are seven notable examples of releasing Android app APKs that customers use to access their shops and services:
- Yakuza
- tom ford 24
- 24 Deluxe
- PNTS32
- Flakka 24
- 24 kana
- Map STGK
All seven of the above use the same M-Club CMS engine to build their APKs, so they likely used the same developer services.
“Some of these mobile apps were recently observed by experts on mobile devices seized by law enforcement. They belong to multiple suspects involved in drug trafficking and other illegal activities. ,” warned Resecurity.
“The mobile app offers the ability to transfer details about successful drug orders and can even send the geographic coordinates of ‘packages’ left by couriers for further pickup,” Resecurity explained in the report. doing.
“Such information is sent in the form of images to prevent indexing. […] The note may contain how deep the “package” is hidden under the ground, or other information to find it.
When this information exchange occurs across multiple different applications, it creates fragmentation and expands the ability of law enforcement to track everything and proceed to arrests.
Resecurity believes that most of the new marketplaces launching in 2023 will feature Android apps, gradually replacing privacy-risking forums and open market platforms.
new big player
The most prominent drug market platforms have not yet embraced the Android app trend, instead focusing on a new battle for supremacy in this space.
According to Resecurity, RuTor, WayAway, Legalizer, OMG!, Solaris, and Nemesis have benefited the most from Hydra’s shutdown.
In total, these markets welcomed 795,000 new users last summer.
With no clear market leader and volatile reputations for all platforms (and vendors) today, this is dangerous for people buying counterfeit substances, low-quality ingredients, or something different than what they ordered. It is a difficult time and ultimately very dangerous.
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