Skip to main content

Meet social media’s drug dealers, also known as ‘The Stupidest People On The Internet’

In popular culture, drug dealers are often portrayed as ruthless but intelligent – think of Stringer Bell on The Wire reading Adam Smith, or Heisenberg on Breaking Bad outmaneuvering his foes. Even the bombastic cocaine cowboys in Blow and Scarface are good at coming up with plots to move their merchandise.

But real life is not always like the movies, and for every drug kingpin there are thousands of small-time hustlers charmed by easy cash and not inclined to think of the consequences of their actions. So it’s not surprising that people are trying to sell drugs on their Facebook and Instagram accounts, ignoring how easily their conversations and wheelings and dealings can be traced on these platforms.

Recommended Videos

In Bemidji, Minnesota, someone advertised 12 jars of marijuana for sale by posting about it on a popular local Facebook page called the “Bemidji Area Online Sale.” The Bemidji Pioneer reported that the posting garnered over 200 comments, including some pointing out how stupid it is to leave such a robust electronic trail. The post has since been deleted, but not before it drew attention to its creator.

The police went searching for the dealer, a person with the Facebook name Darrin Michael Thompson (Darrin Fuller), who said he’d be in a local parking lot. They never found Thompson, and since this is a relatively minor offense, they may not follow up – but if he continues to peddle marijuana 0r other drugs online, more tenacious police work will likely follow. This guy’s not getting off because it’s impossible to trace him, he’s getting off because it’s likely a low priority crime. But once a law enforcement official decides to make his dealings a priority, it won’t be hard to pin him down. Digital Trends reached out to Thompson to find out whether he’s concerned about getting arrested, but he did not respond.

Facebook isn’t the only social network where people are advertising drugs. The recently explored “junkie culture” on Instagram has taken root, and there are many accounts dedicated to depicting heroin and drug use; there are thousands of pictures tagged #nodsquad and #junkiesofIG. Some of the accounts focus on filtered shots of needles and other paraphernalia – they’re almost hypnotic in their seediness, and are nearly usable as promotional material warning kids of the dangers of shooting up, because they’re bleaker than a Bon Iver acoustic session. But other accounts go beyond showcasing drug use and blatantly sell the drugs they depict.

There are 271 photos tagged #weedforsale, and that’s just the beginning – there’s also #dankforsale, #pillsforsale, and innumerable photos selling drugs that don’t have hashtags.

Instagram users who create accounts that repeatedly offer drugs for sale may be harder to track down if they choose a handle unrelated to their name, but it’s still very easy to link them to criminal behavior once law enforcement officials can connect them to their account. Which means users like @aceteam2300, who put up hundreds of photos of drugs for sale, are sitting ducks.

If you look at the comment section of that picture, several users inquire about buying the pills, and @aceteam2300 is more than happy to respond and oblige.

What makes this behavior especially baffling is that there are several more secure ways to sell drugs online. After all, if someone is really serious about moving illicit merchandise on the Internet, there are substantially less idiotic ways to do it. The Silk Road and other websites sare designed to help people sell goods that are illegal in their countries of residence employ measures to make it harder to find buyers and sellers. Those websites require use of the Tor network, which hides your IP address and makes it much harder to track you down when you’re doing shifty stuff online.

The basic lack of understanding on display here about how the Internet works either means a shocking amount of users don’t realize how easy they are to trace, or maybe more likely, that they don’t really care. Instagram nonchalance may be a private investigators new best friend.

Kate Knibbs
Former Contributor
Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more