(repost from /DarkNetMarketsNoobs)
So a month ago I decided to buy some cocain on DN and researched this topic to death. Got Tails installed, bought several WIFI USB sticks (the first two didn't work with my hardware), got an untraceable mobile, setup cn/dn identities, Sigaint, PGP accounts, read all relevant guides on reddit's /DarkNetMarkets /DarkNetMarketNoobs etc.. Bought bitcoins anonymously, tumbled them several times. The entire OpSec mambo-jambo to the max - almost ridiculous.
Then I went on and purchased 2x 1gr of cocain from two different dealers on different markets at the same time. Providing a different drop to each one. One method was „postlagernd" with a fake name (I live in Germany). The other one to an acquaintance, who's on vacation for several weeks and whose mailbox I got access to. For the „postlagernd" drop I did a trial two weeks before the actual purchase: under a fake name I sent myself a little bit of suspiciously packed Baby-Powder to the same post-office I used for the drop later on. It worked.
I picked each dealer mainly according to their reputation and location (sending from Germany, delivering to Germany). The first one had >400 reviews (escrow, Dream Market) and asked about 60€ for one gram, the other one had >1200 reviews (FE, Alphabay) and was a bit more expensive (75€). The reviews for both seemed legit and were accumulated over several months (some were bad, but most were outstanding). I did some quick research for their names on Reddit and didn't find anything negative, or at least nothing that would suggest they were frauds.
Long story short: the first one (escrow, sent postlagernd) did not arrive, and so I told him. He was very polite, saying „no problem" and that he would send it again right away as express (to a different drop I provided)... Cool, I thought, but also his second delivery didn't arrive. Same with the other dealer (FE on Alphabay), except that I didn't tell him yet (I will on Monday)... Starting to run out of drops, though.
Yeah, so anyway, this blows. A lot. All this research, preparation and money for nothing.
For me the most plausible explanation seems that either the packages got intercepted (3 times - because of poor stealth?), or they were never sent at all. Did I miss anything? Let me know what you think, would appreciate your advice. AMA
Best, 1st-DNM-experience
PS: the escrow one eventually auto-finalized because of the time it took to resend and I didn't want to extend the period since he was being so kind to reship. I didn't rate anyone of them, yet. I was thinking that maybe I leave a 3* review (benefit of the doubt) and a link to this post. Should I do it?
Don't use a fake name, and never FE. If you did research this as much as you claimed to have, you would know this.
It is unlikely that 3 domestic packages got intercepted, but then again you used a fake name, so it is possible. But it is more of a possibility that you got scammed.
Don't use a fake name, don't FE, research your vendors, and stick with domestic vendors. I'm sure your next order will arrive just fine :)