Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: kmfkewm on May 26, 2012, 11:18 am
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http://www.fbi.gov/dallas/press-releases/2012/fbi-and-u.s.-postal-inspection-service-announce-reward-for-information-leading-to-the-arrest-and-conviction-of-the-person-s-responsible-for-the-recent-mailings-of-white-powder-letters-in-the-north-texas-area
actual link contains pics and other stuff
Kevin F. Kolbye, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Dallas, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Randall C. Till, Inspector in Charge, Fort Worth Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), announce a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the recent mailings of letters containing white powder in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The reward flyer is posted below.
During the week of May 7, 2012, over 20 letters containing white powder were received by early childhood development centers, elementary schools, and an aerospace-related business. These letters were received in Texas and several other states. The FBI, USPIS, local law enforcement, and local fire department hazardous materials teams responded to each location and field screened the letters for the presence of toxins or poisons. To date, none of the mailings have contained hazardous materials.
Each letter was sent through the U.S. mail and featured a postmark from North Texas. It is highly likely these letters were sent by the same person responsible for mailing over 380 letters, beginning in late 2008, each of which contained a non-hazardous substance. This person has sent letters to elementary, middle, and high schools; day care centers; churches; government offices; U.S. Embassies abroad; restaurants; and other private businesses. A sample letter is posted below.
The author has and continues to reference subjects such as al Qaeda and the Nazi SS, which is believed to have been included for shock value rather than to express any sincere sympathy or affiliation. In a recent letter, he used the terms “Scooby Doo” and “triple dealer spy” and made reference to CIA counterintelligence and FBI internal affairs.
The sender has taken steps to conceal his activities and prevent law enforcement from finding physical evidence of his crimes, including his fingerprints. A flyer announcing the reward along with possible details about the subject has been posted on the Dallas FBI website (www.fbi.gov/dallas) and on the USPIS website (postalinspectors.uspis.gov).
Although mail is screened for toxic substances prior to delivery, the public is reminded to take the following precautions should they open a piece of mail with a powdery substance in it.
Leave the immediate area where the powder was spilled but keep yourself separated from individuals who have not been exposed to the powder. Do not attempt to clean up the powder and do not move the letter. Isolate the area where the spill has occurred.
Wash hands immediately.
Call 911 and advise them of the receipt of the mailing.
Remember, all instances of white powder in this matter have tested negative for a toxic substance. The white powder, however, should still be handled with caution until verification of its lack of toxicity is received.
Anyone with information concerning these letters should contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI (1-800-225-5324) or by visiting https://tips.fbi.gov.
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Basically what I got from this... is that over 380 letters got through. Not that we didn't already know that the postal system is a huge mess and 99.9% of anything gets through, but its good to hear it again anyway.
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It's kind of funny, what is the point in sending hundreds of hoax letters like that? Guy must have some kind of mental issues.
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I wanted a letter :(
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Basically what I got from this... is that over 380 letters got through. Not that we didn't already know that the postal system is a huge mess and 99.9% of anything gets through, but its good to hear it again anyway.
The U.S. Postal system is not a huge mess. It is a well oiled machine. How dare you say such fallacies about our national treasure. Mail is supposed to "get through" it is not supposed to stop. US Mail is a contract between sender and receiver, a gurantee of delivery for a price. Our Nations finest deliver rain or shine, and drive on through snow and ice.
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I really never thought about it. But just imagine how much fucking chaos could be wrought by sending drugs to prominent people's homes!!!
ANARCHY IN THE USA!!!
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Please do not use politicians and prominent individuals as your return addresses.
First off: it looks suspicious and suspicious looking packages puts the buyers at risk.
Second: Do not underestimate the capability of the US government. Federal elected officials wield considerable power (as do the folks who fund their campaigns) and can influence the behavior of the FBI, NSA, CIA, DOD, and USPS. If enough influential people decide to shut down the mail-trade in drugs I've got no doubt they can find a way to do it.
I do agree that it seem like a lot of fun to throw rocks at the sleeping grizzly bear, but it might not be so much fun once he's awake and you have his attention. ;)
better to just go about your business quietly.
Best Regards,
Bob
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Someone sent 16 kilos of coke to the UN headquarters in New York recently.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/thirty-five-pounds-of-cocaine-from-mexico-turn-up-in-un-mailroom.html
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It was me. I was the one who sent all those letters. The powder is low-grade MDMA. All of the schools, day-cares, churches, restaurants, etc... who I sent to actually ordered the molly from me. I've even eaten at one of the restaurants, and I could definitely feel a bit of a molly buzz after having a large plate of shrimp alfredo. Best meal I've had to date. Delicious.
I'm just annoyed that some of these people decided to squeal after I told them repeatedly that I'm not sending them the finest product. Oh well...
Yeah, whoever wants MDMA spiked cuisine in Texas, I can point you in the right direction.
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Basically what I got from this... is that over 380 letters got through. Not that we didn't already know that the postal system is a huge mess and 99.9% of anything gets through, but its good to hear it again anyway.
The U.S. Postal system is not a huge mess. It is a well oiled machine. How dare you say such fallacies about our national treasure. Mail is supposed to "get through" it is not supposed to stop. US Mail is a contract between sender and receiver, a gurantee of delivery for a price. Our Nations finest deliver rain or shine, and drive on through snow and ice.
All handicaps considered, and with an approximate mail volume of 20,000,000 pieces of mail processed per hour, every hour, for an entire year, the USPS is a model of efficiency and reliability.
Think about that for a moment. Twenty million pieces of mail processed every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month, of every year. Everyone should do a search on USPS statistics... You will be utterly amazed.
Safety in numbers...
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Please do not use politicians and prominent individuals as your return addresses.
If enough influential people decide to shut down the mail-trade in drugs I've got no doubt they can find a way to do it.
I do agree that it seem like a lot of fun to throw rocks at the sleeping grizzly bear, but it might not be so much fun once he's awake and you have his attention. ;)
better to just go about your business quietly.
Seriously. All it takes is a little extra funding for some "particle-sniffers" (like I believe Japan has implemented at all incoming customs locations?)
Then we're ALL screwed. :(
So yeah. Let's NOT throw rocks (or white powders or politician addresses) at the sleeping bear. ;)
(Although Dennis Kucinich might enjoy some a little somthin-something.) ;)
Peace
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All of the high tech mail scanning gear I have seen is completely impractical for use in mass scanning. Systems that can detect drugs in a package with 100% certainty are not so scary when you learn that it takes them five minutes to scan a single package. I am sure they will continue to make technological improvements in this area, and maybe some day it will be practical for them to automatically scan every piece of mail for contraband, but right now this technology is rarely used outside of prisons and for scanning mail that has already been set aside for more thorough analysis after it was flagged for other reasons.
Their nuclear and biohazard scanning equipment seems to be much better from the technical papers I have read on them, versus what I have read about drug scanners. They want to be able to detect radiation and biological attacks with extremely high precision, and apparently are capable of doing so in some cases. On the other hand bombs are still mailed through, and anthrax has been but they totally revamped their biological attack detection systems after that happened. Their counter terrorism equipment seems to be much better, but still apparently has limitations.
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I am sure they will continue to make technological improvements in this area, and maybe some day it will be practical for them to automatically scan every piece of mail for contraband..
I tend to err on the side of, "whatever is revealed to us publicly 'now', is something they've been using for many, MANY years already. If not decades."
Kind of like that fucking plate tracking technology, that USPS has also been using for YEARS to snap n' scan all letters and packs. Since this thread is related to safe shipping. Just to quote a part of:
"Feds Tracking our every Movement with License Plates"
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"These cameras snap one or more pictures of each and every car that passes under them. 1,800 cars per minute are captured and then downloaded to a government computer. With the sole objective of taking a readable picture of each auto and its license plate number, the images are then saved into a massive database that includes a record for every single American citizen whose ever registered a car.
Once the government’s computer captures and reads the license plate number, the corresponding American citizen is identified. Each image for each person and car is then logged into the database according to the location, date and time. Now, the Federal government has a real-time tracking device that works just as if they mounted a homing beacon to every car. Government agents can log into our records and instantly watch our every movement. They can look back and watch us move around the city on a previous day. Or they can watch in real time as the computer logs incoming pictures as our car passes through one Washington intersection after another.
While this technology has been in use for five years, the tactic of tracking every citizen’s real time movements has been going on for a decade."
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But the most important part I think many may have missed....
"The technology was actually invented for use in scanning mail at the US Postal Service. While one portion of the camera takes a color photo of the target, an optical infrared sensor also scans it to decipher numbers and letters."
http://www.whiteoutpress.com/articles/q42011/feds-tracking-every-movement-with-license-plates472/
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So yeah...
Wasn't it you kmf that posted that article not that long ago? I think a lot of people may have missed that part though, as it's kinda deep into the article.
Anyways. All the more reason NEVER to re-use a "return address" if your a vendor. If one pack gets intercepted (or bought from you by a 'friendly' buyer, who just happens to be DEA). Then guess what? With the tech and the help of the local "authorities", the Postal Inspectors, ect, you make it much easier for them to narrow you down. Especially with the cooperation of local ISP's and possible local Tor-traffic analysis.
Which by the way, quick question??
(Is the ability to view how many others in your area using Tor available to the public somehow as well? I know they can access it with the cooperation of ISP's, but is there anyway for the public (us) to do the same?)
But just change up your shipping/packaging 'style' now and then. Never use the the same return addy, drops, ect. Walk a 'good' distance to them from where you may have parked you car, bike, or exited your taxi/bus, ect.
[A littele 'undercover' intel'] We have noticed since the closing of nearly half of the USPS processing center nation wide at the beginning of the year, a NOTICABLE difference on when and where packages first get scanned/processed, by studying DCN's, ect. Obviously DCN's get scanned upon acceptance, but it let's you know the nearest processing center near you. In one area we even noticed a difference of nearly 90 miles from before! So dropping a few zipcodes away from your actual drop locations is basically now (along with the processing center closings) 50% 'enhanced' (depending on your location). We have also noticed the 'spread' of closings across the nation not to be so 'even', if ya get me? Perhaps just send out a few empty letter with a DNC attached and track where they go? From various locations in your surrounding area? And see what ya see? :)
By doing so you are also being responsible, and looking after your customers safety as well. In our opinion.
[And also all the more reason to geographically separate your 'shipping' from your 'customer service', If you have (at least) one reliable partner.]
"SnailMail" for Mac/OSX is a great freeware program designed to do just this and allows one to, at the least, use a rotating list of 'return' shipping addresses. Not sure if there's a Linux/Windoze equivilant? Post it up if so!
But as someone mentioned DO NOT underestimate the power of a government as large as the US (Who own's the UN), and where ~50% of all taxes go to funding the military industrial complex. Not to 'EVEN' fucking mention the --->50 + BILLIONS<---and growing yearly in the SECRET "'black budget".
So yeah....ok...."maybe some day"...?
Color me permanoid.
But that's just me. ;)
Peace
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It is pretty apparent that they have done large scale traffic analysis of mail for many years now, but being able to detect contraband in the flow of mail is different than creating topologies of addresses. It is a great reason why vendors should never use the same return address twice though. But then you open yourself up to statistical analysis, look at how much more often this person gets mail from random names in the same state versus the average, why would that be ??? Maybe the best bet is to use a single real return address with one per customer. That avoids linkability if one pack is seized while still allowing for you to not receive mail in suspicious patterns. Of course it also means each vendor you work with needs to have saved somewhere the return address they use for you though.
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Is the ability to view how many others in your area using Tor available to the public somehow
It is not publicly available but a fairly weak attacker can gather the IP addresses of all Tor users who do not use bridges
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kmf...
[Edit: SHIT! Not referencing the post above but the post before. Tag. Your it! ;)
But...
I think you posted that at the same time I edited my post to say:
[And also all the more reason to geographically separate your 'shipping' from your 'customer service', If you have (at least) one reliable partner.]
Peace ;)
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Thanks for the info re: local Tor-traffic tracking data, but damn! That means we gotta pay off someone at a local ISP on top of SR commission now too? :(
Oh well.. ;)
I feel using rotating public (or otherwise, in quite a few number of ways) anonymous hotspots for a 'very' limited amount of time to download emails, ect is just as good (if not better) than using bridges, no? Although adding that on wouldn't hurt of course.
Just heard some 'conflicting' opinions about using bridges. Or even JonDonym. So i dunno?
Spending a few minutes now and then to go out of your way to safely download the 'essentials', like emails, ect. (and 'dealing' with them) significantly reduces your amount of online exposure. Limiting your online expose during "critical" periods (like the "minutes" it takes to bulk download emails a few days a week) is another 'essential' in our book.
Compared to just kicking it on the forums.
We have requested the same ability to do the same with PM's from SR/DPR, but we shall see...?
[Shit. Off-topic again.] ;)
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Just for Fun:
Ben Franklin invented Miracle Grow, discovered Electricity, Im willing to bet he had some remarkable electric lights. Im guessing one Lb of Washigton's Mt. Vernon Indica went for a dollar a lb. When they saw Franklin's indoor grown with miracle Grow They where throwing as many dollars as they could to get a lb like 100. Jefferson was a king. 2 dollars a lb and it was all farmed with slaves.
Sure you can tell me some history book story that is different or some BS. Yet Ive learned that most of those stories are stories and we are better to use our intellect and decipher what was really going on.
They ran into the Americas looking for the silk road. When they got to America they realized hey cannabis and poppies grow fine here. Who needs the silk road. Well we do nowadays cause some old dead guys wrote some papers that we must abide by. (drug laws).
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Please do not use politicians and prominent individuals as your return addresses.
First off: it looks suspicious and suspicious looking packages puts the buyers at risk.
Second: Do not underestimate the capability of the US government. Federal elected officials wield considerable power (as do the folks who fund their campaigns) and can influence the behavior of the FBI, NSA, CIA, DOD, and USPS. If enough influential people decide to shut down the mail-trade in drugs I've got no doubt they can find a way to do it.
I do agree that it seem like a lot of fun to throw rocks at the sleeping grizzly bear, but it might not be so much fun once he's awake and you have his attention. ;)
better to just go about your business quietly.
Best Regards,
Bob
Wize words my friend :)
Make no enemies, draw no attention, go undetected...