CarderPlanet
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A couple of years ago, leafing through the pages of a well-known weapons forum, a question came to my mind: "I wonder how much a pistol costs on the black market?"
I was not going to buy it, I have a sufficient arsenal of legal civilian weapons, I was just terribly interested. Next, I'm going to tell you what discoveries this all led to.
One of the samples
Darknet and Thor
After spending some time on the Internet, it turned out that all the weapons sold on the Internet look suspicious. Neither sites nor sellers inspire any credibility. But I did not give up, dug further, and one day I came across the Tor anonymous access system, which is also called the "deep" or "dark" Internet. Now this technology is on everyone's lips, everyone uses it, and freedom of speech fighters, and hackers, and criminals of all stripes, including arms dealers. It allows any person to visit Internet resources almost anonymously, neither the FSB nor the FBI are able to quickly track such a person (for now, anyway).
It turned out that in this "dark" segment of the Internet there are a number of sites where advanced in network technologies arms dealers quite successfully offer their goods. But Thor alone would not have been enough, other advanced technologies were also useful - asymmetric encryption and bitcoin.
Encryption
All correspondence is carried out by means of encryption. The seller sets up a public key with which anyone can encrypt the message, but only the seller himself can decrypt it. The encryption algorithms are very strong, if all the rules are followed, a very reliable system is obtained, which is very, very difficult to crack.
Bitcoin
The next technology used is Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that allows people to freely manage their money. To start a wallet, you don't need a real name and a scan of your passport, you don't need a mobile phone number, you don't even need an email, but you can transfer any amount of money (in bitcoins , of course) to any person in any country, and no central servers are used, the transaction goes from one person to another. No one will prohibit, there are no limits, very low transaction fees, in short, a system for people - I and only I am the owner of my money - and this is the main reason why governments and banks do not like Bitcoin.
Dark market
Thus, these three technologies (Tor, encryption, bitcoin), having combined, gave criminals the opportunity to trade not only weapons, but also other illegal goods, primarily all kinds of narcotic substances, while remaining inaccessible to law enforcement agencies.
Pneumatic pistol MP-654 converted for small-bore cartridge (price 450 dollars)
Further, the trading transaction system itself was developed and polished. In the recent past, it looked something like this. The seller agrees with the administration of the forum, site-site in the Tor network (the site is not available on the regular Internet) on the sale of weapons. Creates a theme with a product description, price, photo, communication methods and a public key for encryption. Interested clients are written off with the seller, and if they agree, then another important participant appears on the scene - the "guarantor", who is an intermediary who guarantees that no one will deceive anyone. The buyer transfers the entire amount in bitcoins to the guarantor, the guarantor tells the seller that he has the money, the seller makes a bookmark with a weapon and tells the place to the buyer.
But, as they say, progress does not stand still. Now many sites are introducing an automated trading system. The money for the goods is not transferred to the guarantor, as it was before, but to the site. Where they are frozen until the buyer and seller confirm the deal. Everything here rests on the authority of the site - a sad example of the Evolution site, the site owners disappeared after taking tens of millions of dollars in bitcoins. But there is no such thing as a risk-free system.
Various weapons from the once well-known arms lord, prices in dollars
As a result, everyone is absolutely happy - the seller sold, the buyer bought, while no one saw or heard anyone. If something went wrong, for example, the seller decided to sell air or not at all what was supposed, then the guarantor will settle this problem, and he will do this, as a rule, at his own discretion. The system, of course, is not ideal and it probably has flaws, but so far it works and there are no alternatives.
And if you look at this system in a completely simple way, then you agreed - paid - took it from the bookmark.
Strong arguments at $ 50 a piece
What is on the market
Now that the "how" is clear, consider the "what", "how much" and "how much."
Factory-made weapons are not sold a lot, according to my estimates, about 15-20% (and even then, for the most part, these are hunting rifles of various designs and calibers), the rest is, to one degree or another , alterations from signal weapons, from MMG. Sometimes there are restored samples from the times of the Patriotic War. The most popular model is a modification of the MP-371 (signal "Makarov"), MMG PM, various signal modifications and MMG revolver Nagant. Among the submachine guns on the market, alterations from MMG PPS and some other samples, for example, the Czechoslovak Sa. 26, Scorpio.
Prices
Prices vary a lot. From quite uplifting to transcendental. The price today for the best-selling Makarov conversion from MP-371 varies from 40 to 80 thousand rubles. A hunting rifle can cost from 10 to 30 thousand, PPS from 70 to 100 thousand. Rare guests - imported pistols (Glocks, CZ-85, Whitefish and other Walters) are very expensive, the price can start from $ 3,000, about the same prices for various modifications of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Market volume
Until this market goes to the masses, the market volumes are very modest. After talking with the sellers of pistols-alterations, I found out that they sell 1-2 pistols per month, everything else is piece goods, does not appear often, disappears, ie is sold out quickly. The demand for such things in our country is huge. One of the peculiarities is that they do not like to give too much information here - after the sale, the ad is immediately removed from the network and therefore many visitors get the impression that there are very few products, in fact, you just need to visit more often.
Conclusions
Well, now the conclusions. I am not an analyst at all, so I will talk about the obvious things.
First. Law enforcement agencies do not yet know how to deal with such things, many traders have been selling their prohibited goods for years. They disappear, as a rule, when they try to sell weapons directly, and not through the network.
Second, the online market for illegal weapons will grow, the demand, as I said above, is huge, and the dangers are minimized. So far, the growth of the market is limited only by the fact that not very many people know about such a market and insufficient computer literacy (Tor, bitcoin and encryption are not complicated things, but nevertheless, you need to spend some time to study them).
Third. Criminals get unlimited access to pistols, alterations, which are not registered in any databases, neither by numbers, nor by shot bullets and cartridges. But weapons are bought not only by active and potential robbers and murderers, but also by quite ordinary citizens who want to somehow protect themselves in such difficult times. But these ordinary citizens still decided to break the law, which puts them in the category of criminals.
Fourth. Many on the Internet expect a surge in activity on the illegal firearms market in connection with the well-known events in the east of Ukraine. It doesn't even matter here how and how this war ends, a certain part of weapons and ammunition will end up in Russia and some of it will probably be sold through trading platforms in Torah.
I was not going to buy it, I have a sufficient arsenal of legal civilian weapons, I was just terribly interested. Next, I'm going to tell you what discoveries this all led to.
One of the samples
Darknet and Thor
After spending some time on the Internet, it turned out that all the weapons sold on the Internet look suspicious. Neither sites nor sellers inspire any credibility. But I did not give up, dug further, and one day I came across the Tor anonymous access system, which is also called the "deep" or "dark" Internet. Now this technology is on everyone's lips, everyone uses it, and freedom of speech fighters, and hackers, and criminals of all stripes, including arms dealers. It allows any person to visit Internet resources almost anonymously, neither the FSB nor the FBI are able to quickly track such a person (for now, anyway).
It turned out that in this "dark" segment of the Internet there are a number of sites where advanced in network technologies arms dealers quite successfully offer their goods. But Thor alone would not have been enough, other advanced technologies were also useful - asymmetric encryption and bitcoin.
Encryption
All correspondence is carried out by means of encryption. The seller sets up a public key with which anyone can encrypt the message, but only the seller himself can decrypt it. The encryption algorithms are very strong, if all the rules are followed, a very reliable system is obtained, which is very, very difficult to crack.
Bitcoin
The next technology used is Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that allows people to freely manage their money. To start a wallet, you don't need a real name and a scan of your passport, you don't need a mobile phone number, you don't even need an email, but you can transfer any amount of money (in bitcoins , of course) to any person in any country, and no central servers are used, the transaction goes from one person to another. No one will prohibit, there are no limits, very low transaction fees, in short, a system for people - I and only I am the owner of my money - and this is the main reason why governments and banks do not like Bitcoin.
Dark market
Thus, these three technologies (Tor, encryption, bitcoin), having combined, gave criminals the opportunity to trade not only weapons, but also other illegal goods, primarily all kinds of narcotic substances, while remaining inaccessible to law enforcement agencies.
Pneumatic pistol MP-654 converted for small-bore cartridge (price 450 dollars)
Further, the trading transaction system itself was developed and polished. In the recent past, it looked something like this. The seller agrees with the administration of the forum, site-site in the Tor network (the site is not available on the regular Internet) on the sale of weapons. Creates a theme with a product description, price, photo, communication methods and a public key for encryption. Interested clients are written off with the seller, and if they agree, then another important participant appears on the scene - the "guarantor", who is an intermediary who guarantees that no one will deceive anyone. The buyer transfers the entire amount in bitcoins to the guarantor, the guarantor tells the seller that he has the money, the seller makes a bookmark with a weapon and tells the place to the buyer.
But, as they say, progress does not stand still. Now many sites are introducing an automated trading system. The money for the goods is not transferred to the guarantor, as it was before, but to the site. Where they are frozen until the buyer and seller confirm the deal. Everything here rests on the authority of the site - a sad example of the Evolution site, the site owners disappeared after taking tens of millions of dollars in bitcoins. But there is no such thing as a risk-free system.
Various weapons from the once well-known arms lord, prices in dollars
As a result, everyone is absolutely happy - the seller sold, the buyer bought, while no one saw or heard anyone. If something went wrong, for example, the seller decided to sell air or not at all what was supposed, then the guarantor will settle this problem, and he will do this, as a rule, at his own discretion. The system, of course, is not ideal and it probably has flaws, but so far it works and there are no alternatives.
And if you look at this system in a completely simple way, then you agreed - paid - took it from the bookmark.
Strong arguments at $ 50 a piece
What is on the market
Now that the "how" is clear, consider the "what", "how much" and "how much."
Factory-made weapons are not sold a lot, according to my estimates, about 15-20% (and even then, for the most part, these are hunting rifles of various designs and calibers), the rest is, to one degree or another , alterations from signal weapons, from MMG. Sometimes there are restored samples from the times of the Patriotic War. The most popular model is a modification of the MP-371 (signal "Makarov"), MMG PM, various signal modifications and MMG revolver Nagant. Among the submachine guns on the market, alterations from MMG PPS and some other samples, for example, the Czechoslovak Sa. 26, Scorpio.
Prices
Prices vary a lot. From quite uplifting to transcendental. The price today for the best-selling Makarov conversion from MP-371 varies from 40 to 80 thousand rubles. A hunting rifle can cost from 10 to 30 thousand, PPS from 70 to 100 thousand. Rare guests - imported pistols (Glocks, CZ-85, Whitefish and other Walters) are very expensive, the price can start from $ 3,000, about the same prices for various modifications of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Market volume
Until this market goes to the masses, the market volumes are very modest. After talking with the sellers of pistols-alterations, I found out that they sell 1-2 pistols per month, everything else is piece goods, does not appear often, disappears, ie is sold out quickly. The demand for such things in our country is huge. One of the peculiarities is that they do not like to give too much information here - after the sale, the ad is immediately removed from the network and therefore many visitors get the impression that there are very few products, in fact, you just need to visit more often.
Conclusions
Well, now the conclusions. I am not an analyst at all, so I will talk about the obvious things.
First. Law enforcement agencies do not yet know how to deal with such things, many traders have been selling their prohibited goods for years. They disappear, as a rule, when they try to sell weapons directly, and not through the network.
Second, the online market for illegal weapons will grow, the demand, as I said above, is huge, and the dangers are minimized. So far, the growth of the market is limited only by the fact that not very many people know about such a market and insufficient computer literacy (Tor, bitcoin and encryption are not complicated things, but nevertheless, you need to spend some time to study them).
Third. Criminals get unlimited access to pistols, alterations, which are not registered in any databases, neither by numbers, nor by shot bullets and cartridges. But weapons are bought not only by active and potential robbers and murderers, but also by quite ordinary citizens who want to somehow protect themselves in such difficult times. But these ordinary citizens still decided to break the law, which puts them in the category of criminals.
Fourth. Many on the Internet expect a surge in activity on the illegal firearms market in connection with the well-known events in the east of Ukraine. It doesn't even matter here how and how this war ends, a certain part of weapons and ammunition will end up in Russia and some of it will probably be sold through trading platforms in Torah.
