Dear Community,📷
Today, I'm going to teach you how to access the darknet and how you can help keep yourself anonymous and safety. This is going to be an international DarkAdviser and is only an information guide!
Quick Disclaimer: Everything you do on the Darknet is at your own risk. Do your research where you feel you don't have enough information. Be informed and be educated.
The most important thing to remember is that how anonymous you are on the darknet is up to you. It can take time and effort to do it properly, but ensuring your privacy and safety is important with things like this.
Tails - Website
Tail is an operating system that you can install to a memory stick, DVD or SD Card. You restart your computer and choose it as your boot device. Instead of windows, you'll load up on the Tails operating system. It comes with Tor built in and once you shut down the computer your whole session will be wiped. I personally don't use tails, but it's pretty highly recommended to use it if you can, it provides a whole lot of security.
The real benefit of using Tails is that your session is wiped after you've shut down, so there's no evidence logged onto your computer at all. So keep in mind, if you use tails, do not store a wallet on it. As soon as you shut down, your bitcoins would be lost forever.
Tor - Website
Tor is an internet browser that you'll need to use to access the darknet. You use this to access any .onion links. Using Tor means that your internet traffic will be directed through a bunch of randomized nodes to hide your internet traffic. More information on the website.
Note: When you launch Tor, to the left of your address bar there's an 'S' symbol. Click this and disable all scripts. This will turn off Javascript - which is important because there are vulnerabilities within Javascript itself which can render your computer unsafe.
Markets
You should now have either have tails installed to a USB stick ready to boot or Tor installed to your computer. So now you'll need access to a market. I personally can recommend Agartha Market is a registration-only marketplace meaning it can only be accessed if you register on the marketplace either as a buyer, or a vendor. No part of the platform can be accessed without registration. The other most used market is Empire Market but I don't have any personal experience with this.
Agartha: Only with Tor Browser
Finding Products
Now it's time for you to find the product you want. In Agartha you'll want to make sure that the vendor has a green thumb near their username. This means that you don't need to finalize early. Once you find the product you want, check the vendor's profile. Some vendors will want you to finalize early if you have under a certain amount of orders on your account, so you may need to make small orders initially to build a reputation. Ideally, you also want a vendor with a high rating who has made lots of deals. Someone who is reliable.
So you've found a product you want from a vendor you trust. You now need to place the order. If you've been following along with this guide while you're making your order I want you to read the following four sections before continuing.
For Agartha, check the postage of the product too by clicking the "Buy..." button.
Bitcoins
So you know how many bitcoins you're going to need. I get my bitcoins from Bit Bargain for the UK. Register for an account and follow the steps on the website to get your bitcoins. It has a step-by-step guide to follow and it's very easy to do. It'll involve a bank transfer too, so make sure you're prepared for that. It might be worth noting that transferring coins from your own wallet can cost you bitcoins, usually around 0.0001 BTC, so it can be worth it to get a tiny amount extra than needed. This also helps to account for any variation in the value of bitcoin in the time it takes for you to buy the coins and get them to your Agartha wallet.
Once you've got your coins to transfer them to your own personal wallet. You can transfer them directly to your darknet wallet also. The recommended wallet to use at the moment is Electrum. Make sure you get your bitcoins out otherwise bit bargain will tax you 1% every week.
Tumbling
I don't personally follow this step but I feel it should be in everyone's interest to know about it. Tumbling your coins will also cost you a fee depending on which tumbling service you decide to use.
The way this works is that bitcoins use a blockchain so that you can track where it's been throughout its existence. So the idea is that if a vendor has their coins seized they can track the transactions back to you through the blockchain. In practice, the chances of this happening are minimal and tumbling coins is ultimately not necessary. It can't be proved that you sent that money to them for anything illicit anyway. But if you want to practice that extra bit of safety - and I encourage everyone to be as safe as possible - then you can look at something like Helix as a tumbler. You can investigate the darknet subreddits for other recommendations too, as I do not know a lot about tumbling personally.
Encryption
This is the most important step here. So, you've got bitcoins and transferred them to your chosen market's wallet. Go back to the vendor profile and check for a PGP key. This is their public key and you're going to use this to encrypt your address so only that vendor can read it.
This is a great and detailed guide I'd recommend you follow. It covers everything you need to know.
So import the vendors key, type out your name and address in full, including country if the source is from abroad. Use your real name and address. It may seem scary, but I assure you that your postman is more likely to be suspicious that you're suddenly receiving a lot of packages for John Smith, who only seems to have recently moved into your place.
Encrypt your address with the vendors key and save it to your clipboard.
Making The Order
Okay, you've got the bitcoins in your wallet and you've encrypted your address with your vendors PGP key. Click "Buy..." then paste your encrypted message into the box and press "Confirm" for your order. You'll need to make sure you've got all the funds in your wallet. This will take you to finalization page. DO NOT FINALIZE until your product arrives. Don't ever finalize before you receive your product.
The finalization page for each order can be accessed via the "Orders" tab on Agartha. This is where the vendor will update the status and send you messages if necessary.
The order will auto-finalize after 14 days, releasing the money to the vendor. Make sure that if your product hasn't turned up by then you log in to Agartha and send a message to the vendor explaining that it hasn't turned up to extend the auto-finalize time. It could be that you can resolve the problems with the vendor directly.
As soon as your product arrives though, log in and finalize your order. Bitcoins are a volatile currency and the vendors should be paid for their service, so release the funds to them when you've got what you ordered.
No Order?
If your order doesn't turn up - don't panic. In the European Union, controlled deliveries seem to be entirely uncommon. In all chances, the order may have just been confiscated or lost in the post. I'd recommend that if an order never turns up though that you do not order to that address again. It could be flagged, it could be ignored, but I don't really know and it's your choice.
If you do receive a letter from the post office or any other agency, then you should definitely not use that address.
On the entirely slim chance you ever do get a visit from the police - you have no knowledge of that package and you should always lawyer up if it ever goes further. Use your Miranda Rights and keep quiet. It's not as prevalent here in the European Union I don't think, but you should always protect yourself. To be honest there doesn't seem to be many records in the darknet subreddits about police incidence in the UK though.
Other Tips
Make your Dark Net Identity separate from your other Identities. Don't reuse online personas you use to comment on Reddit or any other service. Pick two random words in the dictionary and throw in some random numbers if you want. Your darknet name should be unique and unidentifiable. The only way in which your darknet identity should be linked to you is when you send a vendor your address and name. And even when a vendor should not be storing this information. If you get the sense a vendor is storing your data in any way, then try to avoid that vendor if you can.
Don't leave leftover coins in your market wallet. I say this as someone that lost a tiny amount of coins on the Evo exit scam and a slightly larger sum during the Silk Road raid. It's always a good idea to have control over your own coins. I'd probably password protect your wallet too.
Domestic orders are always safer. If a delivery doesn't have to come through customs then it's always going to be less likely to be detected. Then again, Canada has some crazy green prices. Personal choice.
For Mac users, I'd recommend Tails even more highly than before because I really do not have any experience with Mac. If however, you don't want to use it, there's a guide on DarkNetMarketsNoobs
Always check vendor reviews for mentions of poor stealth. This means that the vendor is not hiding what they're sending you in the post. Obviously, this increases your risk of being caught, which is bad. So a vendor who has a reputation for good stealth is recommended. Oh, and don't ever discuss the actual mechanics of the stealth methods in a public forum. It should remain secret.
You can use www.dnstats.net to check the availability of darknet sites. You can use this to find tumblers, markets and whatever else you might want for the darknet. It will also show you the uptimes of the websites so you can work out reliability for yourselves.
End
And that's it - you should know everything you need to know to order from the darknet. If you have any questions or comments about the guide, leave a comment or message me and I'll try to update it.
Glossary
FE - Finalize Early
LE - Law Enforcement
PGP - Pretty Good Protection, you should use this to send messages to vendors.
Bitcoins - A digital currency
Darknet - Websites ending with .onion domain name.