Welcome to the 4th edition of "This Week on DarkNetMarkets". This is a little later than usual - IRL shit kept me fairly busy but I did try to collate the more interesting threads. I'm sure I missed a few things, especially stuff over this past weekend. I'm playing around with different ways of organizing the threads, adding sections of interest, and the like. Hope you enjoy!
SSBD Fundraiser
I'm sure you've noticed the efforts of Lobali and BruceCampbell to raise money for SSBD. It looks like the community is making fantastic progress! Please do check out the threads and consider donating extra coin to this great cause and help a fallen member as much as we can. The post has thanks to those who have donated to date.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2yj85s/donate_donate_donate/
Combating Counterfeits, fakes, and false advertising
If you recall, there has been a lot of rumblings and noise around counterfeit products, especially pharamceuticals. Its was discovered that fake Norcos (very good fakes) were floating around. As a result, there are going to be efforts to combat fakes by setting up a fund for testing product. The details are still being developed on what this may look like, which I believe will get more attention once the fundraising for SSBD wraps.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2xxghs/communitydiscussion_bitcoin_lab_test_fund/
DrRx was one of the vendors affected by the fake Norcos. All in all, it appears that he has made this right with many of his customers. I heard from several DrRx customers who were sent replacement product. I'm sure it was on a case by case basis, but several people did report back that they got replacements and were overall happy with DrRx's resolution.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2ym2dh/update_drrx_fake_norcos/
In the same vein, a member reported that he had damaging information on a rather large vendor and his product being underdosed. The original thread can be found here:
After receiving constructive advice from the community, the user released the details of the lab report. The (alleged) vendor was BlueViking. There was quite a bit of discussion including concerns that basically amounted to "chain of custody" type stuff - for instance, how do we know this was really BlueViking's product in the first place.
Of LE, USPS, Busts, and Everything that terrifies us
These first 3 posts are related to love letters, "We Missed You" notices and basically other things that we hope to never get from our friendly mailman.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2xqfik/another_love_letter_inquiry/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2yq7rw/us_postal_investigation_notice/
The following are related to various warnings and busts. Note that these aren't necessarily related to the DNMs, but of course things that interest the community at large.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2ynts5/generalquestions_my_friend_got_arrested/
There has been a lot of speculation on Shiny Flakes. There were several warnings posted due to vendor being unresponsive. Then an article was posted that suggests Shiny Flakes was indeed busted.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2yd7gs/warningshinyflakesto/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2yoftm/shiny_flakes_busted/
In other news, a frat boy was busted in Indiana for dealing Xanax. More than likely he was busted IRL.
Apparently, a package from vendor YourBuddy was seized.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2xrcgh/yourbuddy_package_seized/
Scams/Exit Scams/Other Concerns
A warning was posted about vendor BonnieNClyde who vends on Agora and Evolution.
There has been quite a bit of concern regarding StealthBomber. Customers are not receiving product. INFINITE created a consolidated StealthBomber thread to help track complaints.
There was also a rather large discussion around BitcoinFog and whether or not its a scam. Another issue that came up was the FUD around whether or not the mods of this sub are somehow involved in this scam and are benefiting from it in some way. There are questions of whether its actively endorsed b/c its located in the sidebar. I'd like to reiterate here that we (the mods) have absolutely no connection to BitcoinFog and we, as mods, try to be as transparent as possible with the community. We would never actively engage in activities that harm the users of this community. Anyway, read the thread. As always, do your homework whenever you are tumbling, buying or whatever.
WTF of the Week
I hate to pile on someone for making a serious Opsec mistake but this one has to be mentioned. Please people, if you are writing a vendor review, while the community appreciates pics, do not include a selfie. Your eyes or pupils are not measures of the strength of the product you are testing/reviewing. While some have made the more reasonable mistake of having a small reflection come up in the pic, this was an intentional photo. Just a reminder to think. We all make mistakes but the shit we do have serious consequences.
Conspiracy Theories/Fun Shit
Hey this was a pretty fun wrapup on the state of the MXE market!
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2xm9bw/my_best_guess_on_the_mxe_mess/
Goodbyes
I was never a customer of BossTweed but he received lots of love from the community. He has retired from vending with a simple, but poignant "That's All Folks." No exit scam from what I could gather, a graceful exit.
Friendly Reminders
Just a reminder to exercise patience when waiting on packs. Due to severe weather in many parts of the US, mail is not running as it normally is. Packs are taking extra long to get to places. Do not fret when you don't receive your pack in 3 days! Give it extra time. Combined with various postal cutbacks and poor weather, expect thing to run late.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/2ymi3d/people_need_to_chill_with_the_mail_times/
Wrapup
And that wraps up the 4th edition! I know I probably missed content, especially shit that happened over the weekend. But I did seem to collate a decent amount of threads from the last week. It amazes me going through this and how much happens over a seven day period!! Thanks again for all the discussions and information relayed! I'll try to get the next update on time! As always, I'm opened to suggestions.
EDIT: Added BitcoinFog scam discussion
I realize I left out the whole BTCfog thread. Not intentional. Just didn't collate it at the time. Will update in a bit