This article delves into 18 shocking services available on the dark web, ranging from fake reviews and social media bots to hacking, swatting, and custom deepfake videos. It highlights the ease and affordability of these malicious services, their real-world consequences, and the importance of awareness and defense against such threats.
The dark web is often portrayed as a mysterious and dangerous place, but few realize just how accessible and commercialized some of its most harmful services have become. From fake reviews to hiring hackers, the dark web offers a disturbing marketplace where malicious acts can be purchased with ease and at surprisingly low costs. This article explores 18 such services, revealing the scale and severity of the threats lurking beneath the surface of the internet.
Imagine the price of destroying someone's reputation, invading their privacy, or even endangering their life. On the dark web, these acts come with price tags:
These services come with five-star reviews and refund policies, making them disturbingly professional.
In 2017, Andrew Finch was killed at his own doorstep after a stranger placed a fake emergency call to police over a $150 video game dispute. This tragic event underscores the real-world dangers of swatting services available on the dark web.
Your personal data — medical records, phone numbers, credit card information — is almost certainly already listed on dark web marketplaces. This data fuels many of the services discussed below.
For just $40, you can buy a thousand fake five-star Google reviews for any business. Vendors craft realistic reviews in your local language and post them slowly over weeks to avoid detection. This manipulation influences consumer decisions and distorts the wisdom of the crowd.
Buy 10,000 Instagram bot followers for $100 or 100,000 for $300. These bots post comments, like reels, and view stories, artificially inflating engagement. Many influencers and experts have succumbed to this temptation, casting doubt on social media credibility.
Credit card details, including number, expiration, CVV, billing address, and sometimes security pins, are sold for as low as $20 for standard cards and up to $100 for premium cards with high limits. Vendors offer guarantees and replacements if cards are inactive.
For $200, you can commission a targeted phishing campaign against a company. Vendors create fake login portals mimicking company pages and craft emails that appear to come from CEOs. These campaigns catch roughly one in ten employees on the first email and over one in three by the third.
Devices like USB rubber duckies look like normal flash drives but execute malicious scripts when plugged in, opening backdoors into computers. Vendors mail these devices disguised as promotional items to targeted addresses. The 2008 US Central Command breach started with such a USB stick.
Ransomware kits are rented like software subscriptions, complete with tier plans, customer support, and updates. Buyers don't need coding skills; they just deploy the malware and collect ransoms. The 2021 Colonial Pipeline attack was carried out using this model.
You can hire hackers to crack emails ($300), take over Instagram accounts ($500), or gain full phone access ($1,200). While many vendors are scams, thousands of buyers attempt to hire hackers for personal vendettas or attacks.
For $10 an hour, you can hire services to take any website offline using botnets composed of compromised home devices like smart fridges and baby monitors. The Mirai botnet, built from such devices, took down major internet sections in 2016.
High-quality counterfeit cash that passes UV scanners and marker tests is sold for $300 per thousand bills. Vendors ship these bills vacuum-sealed inside ordinary packages. Some counterfeit rings have moved over a million dollars before being busted.
Websites scrape the internet for IP cameras with default passwords, cataloging tens of thousands of unsecured streams by country and room type. These cameras are accessible to anyone scanning the internet, exposing private moments worldwide.
Modern keyless cars broadcast signals that thieves can capture and relay to unlock and start vehicles remotely. Kits to perform these attacks are sold openly on dark web forums. Tens of thousands of car thefts in the UK are linked to these relay attacks.
Vendors create fake online personas using AI-generated photos and detailed backstories to build relationships with targets on dating apps. They extract compromising information or media over weeks, delivering it to buyers. This tactic powers many romance scams stealing billions annually.
Swatting involves calling fake emergencies to dispatch armed police to a target's address. Services exist on Telegram and dark web forums. Victims are often caught off guard, sometimes with tragic outcomes like Andrew Finch's death.
Using vulnerabilities in telecom protocols (SS7), vendors offer real-time tracking of any phone worldwide by number alone. While many offerings are scams, the capability is real and has been documented.
Medical records are more valuable than credit cards because they never expire. They include insurance numbers, social security numbers, diagnoses, prescriptions, and genetic data. Massive breaches have exposed hundreds of millions of records, many sold on the dark web.
For $5,000, you can get a deepfake video of a person saying anything you want, created from photos and audio clips. These videos can fool voice authentication systems and have been used in high-profile fraud cases.
Vendors build multi-week social media operations to destroy a person's reputation using coordinated fake accounts, fabricated documents, manipulated photos, and AI-generated articles. These campaigns are difficult to counter and have been used against politicians and billionaires.
There are marketplaces listing named individuals as targets for harm, with real names, addresses, and prices. While many are scams, some have led to actual arrests and victims. Law enforcement agencies actively infiltrate these markets to prevent harm.
The dark web offers a disturbing array of services that can ruin lives, invade privacy, and disrupt society, often for the cost of a used car or less. Awareness of these threats is crucial for individuals and organizations to defend themselves. While many vendors are scams, the existence and accessibility of these services highlight the urgent need for stronger cybersecurity measures and vigilance in our increasingly digital world.
