People have different reasons to visit dark web. It could be freedom of speech advocates, whistleblowers, freedom fighters. People who believe that their values could be shared with mind alike people without revealing identity or being tracked.
The content on the dark web is not regulated. This created the platform for a huge amount of all kind of offences.
Illegal drug sales. One of the examples is Silk Road. The website on the dark net which allowed sales of legal goods such as books, jewelry, apparel and at the same time about 70 % of products were illegal drugs, stimulants, opioids and other drugs. The website was busted by the FBI and subsequently closed. The administrator of the website received several sentences including two life imprisonment.
- Illegal fake documents sales.
- Adult pornography like POV time.
- Child pornography. Viewing or downloading child pornography can result in arrest.
- Human trafficking, prostitution.
- Illegal gold sales.
- Black mail/extortion.
- Terrorism/ recruitment and planning terrorist acts.
- Organ harvesting.
- Criminals for Hire.
- Sales of malware.
- Modifying weapons. While owning some types of weapons is legal in many states, certain modifications are against the law in some areas.
- Stolen credit cards, banking information.
To uncover and investigate the illegal activity the law enforcement services in different countries use some hacking techniques, some other vulnerabilities. Goods are being delivered through the USPS, matching online clues with surveillance, tracking money laundry via cryptocurrency transactions, etc.