Mexico-based marketplaces claiming to be dedicated online portals for notorious criminal cartels on the Dark web

On the dark web, Mexico-based marketplaces claiming to be dedicated online portals for notorious criminal cartels have appeared. These online markets provide drugs and hitman services, much like they would in the real world, and try to provide some legitimacy to their listed items by hiring “experienced actors” in those professions. The analyst at DarkOwl was the one to foresee the development of this market.

The DarkOwl study, with quite an example, includes a combination of new and established markets that gained prominence as a result of changes in the external environment of the market.

Los Urabenos: This market is associated with the paramilitary group “Clan del Golfo” in Colombia and offers hitman services in addition to selling cocaine that is 99% pure. On this website, the vendors claim to have completed 750 orders for 400 buyers.

Outline: A well-known darknet trader who is rumoured to have connections to the “Scorpion Cartel,” a producer of cocaine flakes in Colombia, founded Ausline, a market aimed at Australians and New Zealanders.

Now, the question that lies here is, are either of them even real or not?

All of the aforementioned markets may just be fakes made to boost their “authenticity” while defrauding customers and getting their money for orders that are never completed because everything on the darknet may be fabricated. In addition, government enforcement organizations frequently advertise hitman services on the dark web as part of honeypot operations to tempt possible consumers.

Since the year 2020, many of these marketplaces have been active. Whether or if those new or recently reactivated cartel markets are genuine, their new location on the dark web marks a shift in the area’s dynamics, with the disappearance of huge markets and their replacement by smaller, niche outlets.