I started using hidden, encrypted networks since 2004. For most of you known as Dark web. AMA

r/

Hello everyone, I consider myself a very experienced individual in this precise topic. I started using Dark web (DW) back in 2004 when it was mostly considered a place for privacy-focused activities both legal and illegal.

In the beginning it was mostly for journalism, but quickly it escalated to the place where criminals can connect. Probably up to 2011 when Silk Road launched, it wasn’t a widely known place.

Putting into perspective DW is my livelihood for 16 years now. As through out the period of 2004 to 2008/9 there was not much to do.

I am what you would call mostly an unethical hacker, the only line I draw is anything involving children. So basically it means that if I get paid I will take any job, I don’t work just with a certain group or, don’t target wallets to drain. I don’t try to steal money, I only do the job if I’m paid, if nothing is up I’m updating and developing malware, that I can sell later on.

A little bit about my history on DW, 2005-2008 I was in CCC (chaos computer club) it was a group of hactivists, not criminal minded and not money oriented. The thing is I was always money orientated, I gained experience in social engineering and in technical hacking.

After that I decided that I can take my skills and make money with it. That’s what I did . So in 2009 I got approached by random guy in a hacking forum, and got a “job” to work on Darkmarket, as let’s say cybersecurity expert I worked with them until middle of 2010. After a lot of miscommunication we parted ways.

Until 2011 I was doing all side gigs possible to earn money. And it provided me very well not only with money but also with experience. 2011 to 2012 I was working on black market reloaded, admin of the market was talking about exit scaming, so I had to split not to be associated.

2013 I built and helped run Sheep marketplace, that exit scamed. I didn’t get paid anything in the end. Btc they stole this day would be worth around 40 mil usd.

2013, helped build Agora, by 2015 it had to be shut down as it had breached security by feds.

From 2015 to 2016 worked on Valhalla, after I and few guys left, cause pay was shit, it got seized.

After that I was just doing random jobs by request, by 2019 I had built a decent network of people around me so jobs were coming in like nothing. By the end of 2019, got invited in to a group “deception notion” it is basically a website for hackers, to find work, if someone is working on something, but they get new clients they just put them on the board, and other hackers takes the jobs.

I can answer all your questions about dw, what’s real, what’s a lie etc… I can assure you that 99% of it is for scammers, and to scam people.

Ask about anything, drug trafficking, weapons trade, financial, fraud services, identity theft, counterfeit goods, hacking services, tools, data dumps/leaks, Ransomware services, human exploitation, smuggling. And many many more.

Throwing it out: mostly dw is used for drugs, fraud and hackers/hacking tools. Most other stuff is fake on the surface of DW, and very unsettling.

So if anything interests you, go ahead and ask 🙂 I think I have enough experience to answer everything. And I’m not cocky if I won’t know the answer I will say so!

Comments

  1. Life-Issue-7479 Avatar

    What was the DW scene like in 2004-06?

  2. Bitter_Ad5419 Avatar

    How easy and secure is it really for buying drugs?

  3. Ravekat1 Avatar

    What disturbed you the most?

  4. psychedelic-dude Avatar

    If you would do a job for somebody (which means you got paid) that involved fraud ie draining wallets, credit cards etc, why didnt you just do a job for yourself without doing it for someone else, and get paid that way, if at the end of the day, you were trying to make a living?

  5. Many_Application3112 Avatar

    How do you get paid for the jobs without anyone tracking it?

    I know that Bitcoin is a common payment method, but Bitcoin uses a public ledger, which means ANYONE can see the money move.

  6. Apprehensive_Bus_361 Avatar
    1. I’ve seen global hitmen services in the DW. Are they real?
    2. Do law enforcement bait people into buying drugs on the DW?
    3. How do you validate that job requests are legit, and not baits?
    4. How do you protect yourself from your customers?
  7. Several_Beginning533 Avatar

    How much money did you make till now?

  8. cryptoinsane76 Avatar

    How do you wash your xmr..how do you convert them in $$

  9. Aliceinyouknowwhere Avatar

    Did you ever turn down a job ?

  10. BobbyA23 Avatar

    Do you take on smaller and easier jobs for randoms like myself still or not at all?

  11. Gmega360 Avatar

    Are very conscious about your cybersecurity on your daily life outside of the devices where that you use to connect to the DW?

    For example, your Main PC is net airtight and with rules, but your cellphone or secondary laptop are like the average device with only the surface level tweaks like disabling Location.

    Or do you also install custom OS on your cellphone along other stereotypical cybersecurity over-the-top methods?

  12. QwenXire Avatar

    What are the top 5 most common types of jobs you accept? Deny?

  13. McFry__ Avatar

    Have you ever got anyone locked up for doing illegal things you don’t agree with?

  14. DerAlman999 Avatar

    Can you get good reviews in any way to get more people to notice you and use your services? Or is that too risky, as you don’t want to leave any traces at all?

  15. FamilyFunAccount420 Avatar

    What do you tell people you know IRL that you do for work?

  16. DerAlman999 Avatar

    How do you feel about Not beeing able to Talk about your work? Like, when you think you did something really good for society but you Are Not able to Share anything about it

  17. Ok_Stranger_4803 Avatar

    How would someone contact you for a job?

  18. AtlasFour Avatar

    Someone close to me was involved in this world and seemingly had a similar timeline to you. Having hung around in some of their IRCs, you ever meet anyone with technical skill that just blew you away on the DW? For good or bad reasons?

  19. Amicorendes Avatar

    At what age did you start hacking? Realistically, Is it possible for an adult to learn hacking and be good at it? I mean do I have to be an autistic kid as shown in movies to be a good hacker?

  20. Goddamuglybob Avatar

    What’s your primary language? Do you write the RATs yourself?
    Are you skills based on penetration and known/ unknown vulnerabilities?
    I’m interested in SW and network infrastructure

  21. sayleanenlarge Avatar

    Do you feel guilt at all? If it’s just scamming, then you’ve surely been involved in hurting people, like little old men and women, and poor families with kids?

  22. sovietarmyfan Avatar

    1: Do hackers actually use kali linux and what tools are mostly utilized?

    2: If you can answer, have you ever dabbled in anything government related? Like, something from a intelligence organisation or etc?

    3: What are signs that a person can check that they have been hacked?

  23. TheWhiskeyFish Avatar

    What is the best way to protect my kids from the creeps you referred to? Is there anything someone without your skillset can do?

  24. Personal_Fruit_957 Avatar
    1. Have you ever taken on a job that you later regretted?

    2. Would you say that your experience and skills have now gotten you to a point where money-making is easy? You can pretty much live a leisurely life?

  25. molive6316 Avatar

    What is your favorite/most interesting story that you are willing to share?

  26. JukinHadouken Avatar

    Were you involved with Silk Road? I am fascinated with real world hacking. Always have been. I had the means to mess with it back in 04. I was always afraid of repercussions. Life and video games didn’t help either. I don’t even have a computer to get into it nowadays

  27. Nlklas Avatar

    Any tv show or movie with a correct interpretation of dw?

  28. The_watcher_100 Avatar

    What do you think of Anonymous

  29. Loose_Pineapple_855 Avatar

    do you feel different from normal people? Like have you had difficulty connecting to people and being vulnerable? On that note, do you have a relationship of any kind and what is your stance on having one? ALSO (sorry): How did you learn this stuff & do you think it would still be possible today? In 5, 10 years or so (because if id had to guess, security keeps increasing and barrier to actually do something impactful also rises higher)?

  30. Not-a-Cat_69 Avatar

    are you trying to get caught with this post? this is breaking the first rule of the DW bible.

  31. No_Equivalent_7866 Avatar

    Can you explain what the dark web is in simple terms?

  32. DoorEqual1740 Avatar

    Can you/would you hack Russian armed forces or Putin’s mistress, anything to help free Ukraine? Are hackers already doing this or is that just a front?

  33. theNotoriousJew Avatar
    1. Would you be up on teaching your knowledge? If no, why?
    2. I have just taken a dive into web-hacking to eventually work on bug bounties (I’m still a baby). What would you give as an advice on that domain? Be as detailed and very honest as you can.
  34. CJ-Slinky Avatar

    I’m still a student in cybersecurity, so I don’t have a crazy amount of in-depth knowledge; but, I was under the impression that most big-name social media companies are pretty secure. With 2FA and a decent password most people should be relatively safe from being hacked. I could be putting way too much stock in how secure the average person makes themselves though.

    What would you say your success chances are, on average, for those jobs you said were “easy”?

    I’m guessing successful jobs come from a mix of OSINT, guesswork, and maybe some 2FA fatigue, any surefire tactic you use?

    Would you consider DW to be a more interesting red team mecca compared to safe spaces like HtB, or too dangerous for rookies to prod around for vulnerabilities?

  35. MoneyInMotion Avatar

    How would you know if someone used your personal info (fullz) to create crypto wallets ?

  36. Loose_Pineapple_855 Avatar

    is it dangerous for a beginner to be or interact on the DW, i dont have anything to do today so im asking for a friend

  37. Ok_Exit9273 Avatar

    Knowing what you know now, would you do it all again? Could you be where you are if you didnt venture into the DW?

  38. Ok-Satisfaction-330 Avatar

    Is there any point for the average person to try protect his Data/Devices these days? I mean against Government and Hackers. Obviously if they want it – they will get it. Any recommendations to increase personal safety? Thanks

  39. Obeetwokenobee Avatar

    I’ve seen passports for sale on the darkweb sites. British, American etc. I’ve always wondered if these are legit or just scams? Would you have any clue as to how they are able to get these if they are legit?

  40. DhrDaan Avatar

    What is the highest paid job you’ve done? How much was it? Also, thanks for doing this— very interesting.

  41. Nicco2608 Avatar

    Hello! I have some questions for you:

    1. Which are the most interesting (and legal) projects you have come across?

    2. How is hacking today and what do you think its future will be?

    3. Would you suggest some books about dark web and hacking?

    4. What are the strangest things you’ve come across (strange like The Cannibal Café)?

    Thank you for your AMA!

  42. DhrDaan Avatar

    Do you usually work on one gig at a time, or do you juggle multiple gigs simultaneously? If it’s the latter, how do you keep a good overview and manage your projects effectively? Are there tools like Notion available in DW to help with that?

  43. IWearTheSun Avatar

    What advice would you have for people who want to learn hacking? Any resources to share or newbie mistakes to avoid?

  44. tomo_rolex Avatar

    Is it actually relatively easy to buy quality drugs on the dw?

  45. blankaffect Avatar

    How does trust work? I mean, if your clients pay you in advance how do they be sure you won’t just run off with their money? If you do the work first, how can you be sure they’ll actually pay once you’re done?

  46. Working_Ad_5635 Avatar

    Let’s say the command line pops up on windows open and quickly disappears. What sort of tools would you use to investigate a potential hack?

  47. Reasonable-Poet-1021 Avatar

    Can you hack into an old apple account

  48. blankaffect Avatar

    How do you access the internet? Is the DW anonymous enough that you use your own connection, or do you use public hotspots?

  49. screwedupmind Avatar

    What would you recommend to an average user on how to keep their personal data secure on phone, apps and PC? Apart from using secure browsers and VPNs.

    I’m this digital age how can one secure their virtual data and protect themselves?

  50. CaptainSteep_ Avatar

    I’m have no experience in hacking. Or coding for that matter. I wish to learn these things. I guess what my question is, would you take someone under your wing to show them the ropes? If not, any advice on how I can get started?

  51. blankaffect Avatar

    How is the typical customer able to pay 40k+ for your work? Do they make even more money from it, are they just ludicrously rich?

  52. No-Ad1353 Avatar

    Have you ever been scared that you’ll get caught? Have you ever been considered suspicious by police?

  53. boulios Avatar
    1. How should I go about in starting a career in ethical hacking?
    2. With the amount of data leaks already, what do you recommend on how to stay clean on the internet living day to day?
  54. Character_Pie_5368 Avatar

    What is your hacking setup like? Such as hardware, OS, tools?

  55. blankaffect Avatar

    How do your clients find you? Is it all word of mouth? How did you reach that critical mass where you get enough referrals to sustain yourself?

  56. Administrative-Fee97 Avatar

    Would you ever take on a job from one of us Reddit users if we paid well?

  57. blankaffect Avatar

    Do you have an exit plan, or do you think you’ll be doing this indefinitely?

  58. Classic-Charity-2179 Avatar

    What protocols/networks are you using most? I assume it’s not limited to Tor, Freenet (or whatever the new name is), I2P etc? 

  59. CandleAfraid7900 Avatar

    Do you use Epieos, social catfish etc for you cunning plans? Any others you could recommend?

  60. Most-Security1518 Avatar

    Do you plan on retiring in the future or just do this until you can’t anymore?

  61. Topher-22 Avatar

    Do corporations hire you guys to hack rivals? Get their sales projections etc?

    Ever do anything that could be used to move stock market prices?

  62. becks2605 Avatar

    Is it risky for you to do this AMA
    What is your personal life like? Do you have a family, friends etc.
    What’s your educational background

  63. curialbellic Avatar

    My question is more philosophical than technical:

    I don’t quite understand your honour code regarding children.

    You refuse to install RATs on children’s devices, but where do you draw the line?

    For example, you don’t think it is morally correct to accept works against 17 yo, but as soon they turn 18 it is acceptable?

    It doesn’t seem to me to make any effective difference, but I look forward to hearing your point of view.

  64. BIGmac_with_nuggets Avatar

    How can people protect themselves against Hackers?

  65. IWASRUNNING91 Avatar

    I was involved in a breach and had to do the cleanup job. There was a broker as the middleman and basically the way things ended is they got the bad actors word that they would delete the files and not use them again.

    I get that you’re all professionals who also rely on their credibility, but how likely is it that the bad actors actually follows through and doesn’t post it up somewhere. This was a nationwide thing that also grabbed a lot of data already in the wild anyways, but a ton that’s new data.

  66. sherylynne Avatar

    What do you think about the whole incognito market thing?

  67. Jennasaykwaaa Avatar

    Can you do anything to save America please? We are really fucked over here! I voted against this

  68. antitrustme Avatar

    How did you get into this? Or how’d you learn everything?

  69. whookid1209 Avatar

    What is the best consumer grade av out right now, in your opinion? Enterprise?

  70. ElDub62 Avatar

    How do people find more than one url on the dw? There a dark google?

  71. shsusiisnsl Avatar

    This is the best AMA I’ve ever seen. Your responses are very interesting. I admire your bluntness and wording.

    Have a good one 🙂

  72. Comfortable_Cherry22 Avatar

    How much do you make on average per year?

  73. Asleep-Tie-6860 Avatar

    Have you ever hacked in China, where the government control is stricter and the ecosystem is a bit different? If so how was that like, compared to other countries.

  74. Miserable_Morning402 Avatar

    How do you organize your financial retirement?

  75. Odd-Adhesiveness9435 Avatar

    Would love to hear what your thoughts are on 4chan being down, is it hackers like yourself or something more nefarious?

  76. mpgipa Avatar

    i though agora closed volunteraly cause owner got mega rich or too paranoid. Did not know they got breached. I remember they allowed to withdraw before they close.

  77. PervisEllis Avatar

    Best DW site that’s currently active that you would recommend using?

  78. Distinct_Egg4365 Avatar

    Why has no hacker group done a ‘mr robot ‘ in real life. Idk if you have watched the series but essentially deleting all debt records something like that acc targeting govs and banks for the so called good of the people. I mean people definitely have the skill to do so ?

  79. Speciou5 Avatar

    Is corporate espionage real or a thing from Hollywood?

    Ex. Does a company hire hackers to get another company’s release date of a project? Or steal some knowledge of how to make something?

  80. stonedchapo Avatar

    As a hacker what can you do?

    Would you be able to put someone on the no fly list?

  81. DirtParking4216 Avatar

    Does your diet mostly consist of Sour Apple Straws and Jolt Cola?

  82. Stergios13 Avatar

    in my country visitng illegal streaming sites gets you a fine. vpn isnt enough because apparently when you activate it there is a small window where they can track you. is this true and if yes how can i get around it?

  83. glizzyglide Avatar

    Do you have a spouse/partner of sort? If so, do you tell them in full honesty what you do, or keep it under wraps to a degree?

  84. Lost_Person7 Avatar

    What has been your biggest mistake?

  85. ArtificalDuck Avatar

    First, thank you for dont taking jobs involving the worst stuff even if it can be very financialy interesting.
    Second, big thanks for shuting down some of those forums even in situation, when you shut down one and another 2 pop up. Please continue.

    As a big fan of hacking history (MOD, LOD, cDc, CCC and many more groups) Im really excited to “meet” someone from CCC :).

    Two questions.
    I understand the flow of money from contractor to you, but can you really use them/enjoy them in real live without noticing by gov agentures? Like, you have some admited(recognized) income and if have house, flat, expensive car, 4x expensive exotic vacation etc… it must be suspicious or not?

    After all those years in field, isn’t your mental health failing? Like lot of paranoia etc?

  86. FcukUInParticular Avatar

    Do you always hide in plain sight or is this just another way you get off?

  87. begrudginglydfw Avatar

    It’s interesting you have morals on some level, yet you devise programs and malware (drainers) to rob people of their crypto and money.

  88. xI-Red-Ix Avatar

    How can I know my android doesn’t have any RATs.
    I only download certain apps but sometimes I forget and download something then quickly delete it.

    Do I need to do a clean wipe?

  89. podcasthellp Avatar

    What is the most absurd job you’ve been offered? What is a typical job you don’t take?

  90. killedonmyhill Avatar

    When people ask you to RAT someone’s phone, is it for personal reasons, like stalking an ex? Or business reasons, like gathering intel?