Sometime last year I was arrested after allegedly ordering off DNMs. Case is closed and I am clear to talk about it, but I just want to discuss the possibility of undercover DEA/fed being the cause of the entire situation.
I was never a customer of any darknet markets, until I landed a job with someone I met over the internet. They offered me a position completely unrelated to drugs, and became my friend. We openly talked about smoking weed (because why not?) and everything started off without a hitch. From the get go, they were extremely nice with money, offered me places to stay since job required relocation, and pretty much paid for everything I wanted to do in an expensive city.
Talk about weed turned into smoking some, which led to discussing pasts about other drugs. All recreational, and we didn't do any together. All illegal, not including some RCs they would always talk about trying.
One day, during part of their everyday assistant work briefing, they decided to approach me about DNMs as kind of a "dude have you seen this shit" conversation. As a relatively young person who was slightly familiar with them, I thought it was cool, safe, etc and didn't mind hearing about them ordering personal amounts of certain things. Nothing more than I'd expect from any random dude experimenting with these cool new markets.
However, they started trying to involve me more and more. Had me buy BTC for them due to the interesting trading strategies (why not? it's not illegal, might as well learn to trade) and showed me around the markets often too. They claimed to have drugs they already ordered from said markets, and showed me them.
That's where things went downhill. They started pestering me to help in picking up their orders and tried to lump me into a "we are ordering" kind of thing. After arrest, I found out they were MUCH more than expected, and this person didn't seem like they had any reason or means to use/sell/distribute such large amounts. Although I never agreed to pick anything up, I was arrested as part of a sting outside one of their residences anyway.
The part that bothers me is that I never saw any drugs, just heard about them, and this dude did NOT seem like they were trying to use me as a scapegoat. They always talked about how "I reminded them of themself when younger" and formed an extremely personal relationship with me over the months I knew them.
Here's the kicker. Right after the arrest, I was told they were arrested too, and months later, allegedly died (cause untold, suggested may be overdose).
When I started my research after my case was closed, I found that they had relatively little internet presence for such an internet-friendly person. I found some forum posts, very stereotypically drug related, and a very hard to believe obituary.
Upon reading my own writing I expect some of you to say "dude they just used you, get over it" but I have some more information that includes personal details I wouldn't be allowed to share on this subreddit.
Though I'm open to discussing this with someone of experience, I'd be very skeptical and need verification that I'm not just getting snooped on further.
My main purpose here is to open up a conversation about the SOCIAL engineering aspect to catching DNM users and see if anyone here has experienced anything similar.
Thanks. No TLDR srry
EDIT: Would like to place some focus on network security. I used TOR as a student of netsec much prior to this case. Wondering if I was already on some watchlist. Totally a guess, too
EDIT 2: I typed this pretty loosely for multiple reasons. I'm willing to give more info but I'd rather be asked specifically, because otherwise this would be the longest post in the history of this sub. I appreciate willingness to discuss even with such broad summaries of a complicated story.
UPDATE I have decided to release the case number of the man who allegedly died during this investigation. Please see the related documents and the abrupt dismissal of the charges.
CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 1:14-mj-01579-UA-1
Most important: see complaint as well as "defendant custody status" to see why I feel he was relieved of any legal action and did not really die. Thank you
Is this not like, definition of entrapment?