DUMB CRIMINAL OF THE WEEK: DRUG BARON NABBED WHEN HE FLEW TO US FOR WORLD BEARD CHAMPIONSHIP
by Hazed
It always amazes me how easy it can be to catch wanted criminals by setting up some kind of scam that offers them something too good to be true. Like telling them they’ve won a lottery prize that they have to collect in person.
This story concerns a French dark web drug baron who, despite being wanted by the DEA, flew to the US for the World Beard Championship – and got nabbed by US government agents.
Looking a photo of the drug lord, he has a beard that certainly would make him a contender!
The story of how the DEA went about uncovering the identity of this kingpin of crime is fascinating. It shows just how hard it is to hide your activities completely.
It starts with the US Drug Enforcement Agency becoming interested in the Dream Market, a drugs bazaar on the dark web, hidden inside the anonymizing Tor network. They investigated it for over a year and had identified the person who was an administrator and senior moderator for the site, as well as being a major seller of drugs OxyContin and Ritalin. He went by the name OxyMonster.
They latched onto him because for the past year and a half, agents in Florida had been buying small quantities of drugs from the Dream Market, in order to establish themselves as legit buyers. Then they were able to dig deeper into the site, and they found active participant OxyMonster, who had joined the site in May 2015.
OxyMonster had a Bitcoin tip jar so that satisfied customers could show their tangible appreciation. Bitcoin transactions are supposed to be anonymous, but they are also transparent, so investigators were able to trace 15 transactions from the jar to a Localbitcoins.com account registered to Gal Vallerius.
Now they had a name, so they searched social media sites to see if Vallerius was posted under that name. He was, and by analysing his writing style on social media accounts and comparing it to comments made on Dream Market by OxyMonster, the investigators were convinced they were the same person. Based on this evidence they got a warrant for his arrest.
So when Vallerius flew to the US to attend the 2017 World Beard and Mustache Championships, he was arrested as soon as he got off the plane at Atlanta airport in Georgia. When DEA agents examined his laptop, they found $500,000 worth of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, plus the crypto-keys for… OxyMonster.
Busted!
He has been charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances including cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, LSD, and oxycodone. If convicted he faces life imprisonment.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/27/suspected_dark_web_druggie_cuffed/
