Bitcoin Transactions Lead To Arrest of Major Drug Dealer (techspot.com)

"Drug dealer caught because of BitCoin usage," writes Slashdot reader DogDude. TechSpot reports: 38-year-old French national Gal Vallerius stands accused of acting as an administrator, senior moderator, and vendor for dark web marketplace Dream Market, where visitors can purchase anything from heroin to stolen financial data. Upon arriving at Atlanta international airport on August 31, Vallerius was arrested and his laptop searched. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents allegedly discovered $500,000 of Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash on the computer, as well a Tor installation and a PGP encryption key for someone called OxyMonster...

In addition to his role with the site, agents had identified OxyMonster as a major seller of Oxycontin and crystal meth. "OxyMonster's vendor profile featured listings for Schedule II controlled substances Oxycontin and Ritalin," testified DEA agent Austin Love. "His profile listed 60 prior sales and five-star reviews from buyers. In addition, his profile stated that he ships from France to anywhere in Europe." Investigators discovered OxyMonster's real identity by tracing outgoing Bitcoin transactions from his tip jar to wallets registered to Vallerius. Agents then checked his Twitter and Instagram accounts, where they found many writing similarities, including regular use of quotation marks, double exclamation marks, and the word "cheers," as well as intermittent French posts. The evidence led to a warrant being issued for Vallerius' arrest.
U.S. investigators had been monitoring the site for nearly two years, but got their break when Vallerius flew to the U.S. for a beard-growing competition in Austin, Texas. He now faces a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Comments

Basic OpSec?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would anyone who runs a dark web market enter the United States with a laptop? How f'ing amateur is that? He shouldn't have even had a smartphone. Go to an internet cafe or buy a $300 Chromebook when you arrive.

Sounds like a PSA

[clovis]

The story sounds like a PSA for what happens if you do drugs.
So here is someone making a boatload of money from a criminal enterprise, but nonetheless decides it would be a good idea to fly to the USA carrying almost as much incriminating evidence as possible. And in a world that has an Internet with every photo app imaginable, he does it so people can look at his beard in person. In the USA.
This is your brain on drugs.

You're missing the point

[rsilvergun]

of the war on drugs, which is getting rid of undesirables.

Think of it like this. If you're poor odds are good you take some drugs to cope or know somebody who does. Now, ask yourself what happens if you wander into a a well-to-do neighborhood to say use their parks or send your kid to their schools? You get arrested. And with Civil Asset Forfeiture law you don't even have to be guilty of anything.

Don't believe me? Who were the biggest pot smokers around the time it was made illegal? Answer: Mexican migrants. Who do we associate most with opioid addiction? The Chinese. And take a look at our current drug policy of 'legal on the state level but not on the federal'. It's the best of both worlds. You can still crack down on the poors while letting the rich toke up.

Basically, it's yet another example of class warfare. If you're paying attention you'll find plenty of folks denying that a class war's going on. That's because the best kind of war is one the other side doesn't know it's fighting.