The new Silk Road may be famous for its global network of drug dealers, but its most prolific vendor doesn’t sell substances at all.
Yes, the online black market still ships weed, ecstasy, and cocaine by the pound. But its most prolific businessperson is a pseudonymous user named DrawkwarD, whose shop sells free lifetime premium accounts on sites like Spotify, Brazzers, Netflix, HBO GO, and dozens more, according to Silk Road Statistics.
It’s still clearly criminal: DrawkwarD hijacks costly accounts from the unwitting public and sells them for a fraction of their original price to eager Dark Net customers. These high-profile targets are easy to grab using techniques like phishing, and they’re always in demand. Cheap and high quality porn, music, and television access has made DrawkwarD one of the most successful and highest rated vendors in Dark Net history.
That digital business empire isn’t limited to Silk Road, by the way. Both of the other major black markets, Agora and Evolution, sell DrawkwarD’s wares to thousands of customers.
You don’t get to be number one with a shoddy shopping experience, of course. DrawkwarD’s well known for fast turnaround and great customer service, boasting 8,300 reviews on the Silk Road, 99 percent of which are a flawless 5/5. That towers above the next two biggest sellers, a pair of Dutchmen dealing speed and weed.
DrawkwarD’s best-selling item is a lifetime Spotify account for just $5 in Bitcoin. To give you perspective on how many people are buying, it’s got over 1,200 5/5 reviews and has sold more than any individual marijuana or heroin product listed on Silk Road. It’s the 5th fastest selling item on the entire marketplace.
There’s great options for sports fans, too, if they’re willing to buy hijacked accounts. DrawkwarD sells lifetime passes for NBA League Pass, NFL Gamepass, and a host of other options for around $10 each. Or for the same price, you can buy a lifetime Brazzers account. That one’s got about 1,000 perfect 5/5 reviews and is the ninth-best seller on the marketplace.
DrawkwarD might be at the top of the pack, but has plenty of company. Across the Dark Net, cheap access to high quality media is in high demand. “Digital goods” are the third highest selling category of products on Silk Road, behind weed and ecstacy, but above classics like cocaine and speed.
The victims who bought those accounts in the first place, however, are stuck without the product they paid for. Or even any idea who took it.
Illustration by Fernando Alfonso III
