The deep web (a.k.a. the darknet or dark web) has become famous for its black markets, where
intrepid shoppers can use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency to purchase everything from drugs to
guns to stolen credit card details over the internet. If have ever wondered how to access these
dark web markets and how to buy things from them then this article is for you.
One thing that may surprise you when you first access the internet’s famous black markets is that
these are not the kind of ‘anything goes’ free for all that you may have seen portrayed in popular
culture. Yes, you can use them to buy illegal items, but all of the main marketplaces have rules
about what vendors are allowed to sell. In fact, you will find that the most popular marketplaces
often seem to be the ones with the strictest rules. You will not see vendors selling poisons,
explosives, videos depicting violence, or anything to do with weapons of mass destruction. Some
marketplaces also ban guns (even for customers in places like the USA where you can legally
buy firearms) and other ‘lethal weapons’, as well as stolen data such as hacked accounts or stolen
credit card details. By far the most common thing you will find is drugs, including recreational
drugs like cannabis and ecstasy and prescription medicines. You will also find things like
counterfeit clothing, accessories and jewellery, and lot of legal items such as e-books and guide,
as well as self-defense products such as pepper spray, and software for helping people protect
their privacy and stop internet spying.
Another thing that you should be aware of is that many of these marketplaces have downtime. If
you click a link to visit a dark web market and it is offline don’t panic – it is probably temporary.
Yes, these markets do come and go as they may be shut down by authorities or the administrators
may disappear, but they also suffer from a lot of temporary outages due to attacks from other
market operators, maintenance, or the side-effects of security measures.