Demystifying the Dark Web

Demystifying the Dark Web
By: Keven Hendricks

When I mention the “dark web,” what are the first things that come to your mind? I’m sure terms like “untraceable,” “complex” and “hacking” arise when it is spoken of, and infamous darknet markets like “Silk Road” are what we equate to what is available for those who know how to use it. With shows like Mr. Robot, Netflix’s How to Sell Drugs Online…Fast, or movies like Emily The Criminal, the dark web has become a part of our culture and it is something we equate to a criminal underworld that few understand, and even fewer in law enforcement can investigate it. But the somber reality is: Children as young as 13 are successfully purchasing narcotics and other contraband via the dark web, and having drugs shipped to their homes commingled with regular ecommerce packages. Could some of the overdoses that are overwhelming our country have a connection to drugs purchased from the dark web?

In my law enforcement tenure, I discovered that cases involving the dark web are seldom investigated on the local or state level. Often viewed as abstruse and complicated, the stigmas harbored about the “dark web” leave the first responders feeling powerless. How would one even begin to investigate a case that may be related to contraband source from a dark net like TOR (The Onion Router)? And even further, what would a local or state agency be able to do with any intelligence they gather from this case? As with any case involving the internet, suspects are often far beyond the confines of their jurisdiction. Without withstanding relationships forged with federal partners like the FBI, HSI, & DEA, would a case like an overdose death attributed to a dark web purchase simply get filed away?

The statistics concerning overdose deaths in our country speak for themselves, with the last two years being the worst in history topping over 100,000. The question I ask you: How many of those deaths were from narcotics purchased on the dark web? The answer: We don’t know! As rare as overdose death investigations are, the metrics concerning overdose deaths related to the dark web remain a question mark. It only emboldens the dark web dealers even more to make windfall profits peddling poison from behind a keyboard knowing law enforcement won’t come looking for them because they don’t understand how to investigate the crimes they are committing.

During my time serving on a Drug Enforcement Administration task force combating dark web narcotics, I discovered the alarming trend that overdose cases attributed to dark web drugs were often closed on the local or state level with evidence that could’ve been seized at the scene to help further the case, like cellphones or computers, already turned over to the families. Imagine trying to work a homicide investigation backward, recreating a crime scene where crucial evidence is no longer there.There isn’t a singular reason for this trend, but rather a multitude of factors that culminates into something that could be avoidable. One of said factors, as it was aptly put to me in a class I was teaching for law enforcement, “What would we even do with the information if the death was related to something the deceased purchased online”!?

With the rise in cybercrime over the past decade, the FBI took a proactive approach with IC3.gov as a reporting portal and a way for victims and law enforcement to report incidents. However, even though the “Silk Road” was taken down in 2013, to this day the only site that is dedicated to the reporting of dark web drugs is my site StopDarkwebDrugs.com / UbivisProject.org.

Before launching in October 2021, I had been brainstorming the idea for nearly two years as I constantly saw how dark web drugs were flooding our communities. The deconfliction systems capable of ingesting the data: whether a dark web vendor moniker or a hidden service URL bookmarked on an overdose victim’s computer, or even an end-to-end encryption app like Telegram username, are often not available to local and state agencies which results in a “stovepiping” of intelligence. Local and state investigators feel removed from the investigatory process.

This sentiment was not lost to me, and I founded StopDarkwebDrugs.com as a straightforward medium for either law enforcement or citizens to report dark web vendor monikers or cases related to dark web drugs. Citizens can be as anonymous as they choose to be, since IP addresses are not retained. For law enforcement, a bit more information is required for a submission. All submissions are personally vetted by me, forwarded to federal partners, and on the “Overdose Crisis” portion of the site, both arrests and overdose deaths attributed to dark web vendors are presented for all to see.

Since going live in October 2021, we have successfully attributed an overdose death to a dark web vendor from a submission to the site via law enforcement, and that case is being investigated in tandem with federal partners. I have also gotten submissions that have led to cases being opened on two different dark web vendors by different federal agencies.

We in law enforcement can continue to view the dark web as some novelty we likely will never come across, or we can take a proactive approach to an element of criminality that is much worse than we realize. Could the next overdose death in your community be related to drug purchased from the dark web? If so, you know where you can go to ensure the information goes to the right place.

Keven Hendricks is a 15-year law enforcement veteran serving on FBI and DEA task forces combating cybercrime. He is a published author with the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin and is currently working as an instructor for Street Cop Training and Federal Resources, teaching classes for law enforcement on the dark web and cybercrimes. He is recognized as a subject-matter expert in the field of dark web investigations and the founder of The Ubivis Project (Stopdarkwebdrugs.com) and can be reached at  keven@ubivisproject.org