The false security of "buying personal amounts"

I see it thrown around in almost every thread where someone is worried about a lapse in OPSEC, trusting a shitty market, or large busts that; "LE wont go after people who order personal amounts" or "its not worth LE time to prosecute someone for a gram of sand". In my opinion the lack of evidence to the contrary does NOT prove this. What would prevent those involved in Onymous from forwarding their "low hanging fruit" or unencrypted address info to various local LE, who can decide what to do? Speaking from a more rural town (north of belize), my local PD aren't busy or understaffed and would absolutely love to show off busting an "international online drug smuggler".

 

For a multi-region, million dollar operation, its true that its not worth their time to investigate small purchases for personal use. But to think that they've just filed the info away as irrelevant is a dangerous mindset. Im not trying to spread FUD, and am not a lawyer, but dismissing a small lapse(not encrypting address etc) in OPSEC could definitely get you under more scrutiny, as LE would have possible probable cause to monitor you a lil more closely. I know that receiving drugs in the mail isn't illegal, as you could send some to senators and get them arrested(im not gonna send 200$ grams of sand to someone to frame them though). Having your address unencrypted on a siezed marketplace raises flags.


Comments


[5 Points] None:

I am 50/50 on this. I do see what you mean but lets be realistic. LE's main aim is to stop the distribution of illegal substances. The best way to do that is to bust the vendors and distributors.

False sense of security

It s true that LE can and will bust for personal use amounts but the charges will be less severe than if you are ordering big. A big order is far more likely to catch LE's attention as it is easier to catch in transit and it is more likely the buyer intends to sell and distribute drugs into the community. IMHO your OPSEC should be the same, big or small order, but you have to think what LE want to accomplish in the long run.


[5 Points] ownowfuck:

I completely agree. I never chime in when people ask "Am I going to be okay?" because truthfully nobody has the answer to that. To the responders who say "was it less than (X) grams?" I just have to shake my head. If they find drugs being shipped cross state-lines, let alone internationally, you're going to be getting a visit.

As for the seizures, obviously the first retort is "Did you use PGP?" And when the response is "No," there is absolutely no certainty that LE at the very least won't follow-up on the address or file it away for a rainy day.


[2 Points] seraph77:

It's stupid to let OPSEC slip, even for the tiniest of amounts, but I really doubt much would come of a personal amount. It's a hard case for them in any event, and why waste the manpower over someone receiving a gram of sand? If it's an oz, then they're probably looking at a potential distributor and person of interest, and it's worth pursuing, but not tiny orders. Local PD yes/maybe, but not the FBI (or your country's equivalent) who are probably the ones looking into this.

That being said, if you do have a personal amount seized, it's a guarantee that you're in a certain database for a very long time. If it's your first and only time ordering, you'll probably never see anything come of it; if you plan to keep doing so however, that could be very problematic.


[2 Points] None:

OPSEC should be roughly the same whether you are buying an 1/8th of weed or a crate of assault rifles, because it's as easy as clicking a few buttons.

That said, LEO have limited resources, and are run like a business- they have to "profit", and the vast majority of the time they aren't going to bother running down someone over small time stuff. Sometimes they might want to make an example, but the odds are good.

Look at all the idiots that were using SR2- if cops were going after small time buyers who were too lazy to PGP their address, we would be seeing hundreds of small time busts that the LEO PR departments would be hailing as a massive victory... didn't happen.


[2 Points] SecondChanceUsername:

Persy amounts are fine IMO. Good vendor, good stealth and in a worst case raid scenario just told them someone whos girlfriend you stole must have sent it to you. The proof lies in the admission.

They go after buyers, yeah but without snitches and package profiling (and PGP) its real hard to even get them. LE likes to target the admins and DDOS sites and shut down servers not bust you for some LSD


[1 Points] None:

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[1 Points] rappercake:

They probably wouldn't spend any time investigating you, but could do a CD or a knock-and-talk or something just to try to bait you into giving them a free arrest. It's not out of the realm of possibility for LE, which is why people should be more aware of how to handle these situations.

The people who say that LE focuses on big fish are right. It's unlikely that they'll find you out at all, or if they do find you out that they'll then spend time going after personal amounts.

It's not something to worry about a lot or something to not worry about at all, just one of the situations a buyer should be aware of.


[1 Points] helenahandcart:

I think a lot depends on the attitude of your local police department towards small time customers. As long as a tight opsec is rigorously observed, it's simply too costly and resource intensive to bust lots of users for silly amounts of personal. Which isn't to say you can be blasé about security; I'd be much more worried if I was a vendor. Where I'm from they've got bigger problems to worry about than my four tabs of acid.


[1 Points] Theeconomist1:

You are right, nothing is 100%. There can be circumstances where a small buyer is busted. Its a numbers game though. There are a shitload of buyers on the DNMs. So even if all buyers are equal targets, still a fairly "low" chance of getting busted based on pure chance. But we know all buyers are not equal targets. When you have limited resources as LE does, especially local LE, they have to prioritize and we personal buyers all make a bet that our priority will be very low.

That being said, there is no reason to tempt fate. You should be safe, always PGP, practice good opsec. It never benefits anyone to make themselves low hanging fruit, even if you may not get picked.


[0 Points] boofk:

The only reason i see them going after small time buyers is they know they cant really stop dnms, but they could make an example out of a few small time buyers to scare other people away. If they wanted to, they could probably charge you with all types of felonies for sending drugs in the mail/across state/international borders and using bitcoin to try to hide your activity. I still think its unlikely though.