The Darknet Collective: Markets Join Forces to Prevent Scams

A number of darknet marketplaces are joining forces to prevent scammers “from hopping between markets” after getting caught scamming. The project is open for other qualified markets willing to cooperate by blacklisting scammers and voting on scam reports.

In an a post on Dread, Monopoly Market, White House Market, and Darkmarket announced “The Darknet Collective.” Other marketplaces are encouraged to join. The Monopoly Market administrator stressed that the Collective is “not an elite group” that forces rules upon other markets.

What is The Darknet Collective

The Darknet Collective is ran by a group of marketplace administrators in order to combat scammers. The main aim is to prevent scammers from hopping between markets or even being able to apply to new markets once they have been banned on another market. Now you may think, well why can’t a vendor just create a new vendor account? They can, but when a vendor is new people will take extra caution as apposed to when a vendor is established. We have pretty much seen zero co-operation between markets where vendors are allowed to vend even though they have just ripped off a bunch of people on another market so by creating the first collective we can start to name and shame scammers without the fear of customers personal information being leaked.

The Requirements

A market must meet a short list of requirements in order to join, however. The requirements are simple and should be the standard for any market that values security. The requirements are listed below as posted on Dread:

• The market allows Monero to be used for transactions (this must be actually working, and not a “coming soon” claim).
• The market is free from Javascript.
• The market does not use clearnet mirrors.
• The market stays clear of orchestrated promotion techniques and attacks against other markets.
• The market adheres to the blacklist by removing/not accepting vendors listed there.
• The market does not use mixed content, all content must be served locally.
• The market follows the “Onion Market Guidelines” introduced by dark.fail.
• The market displays a basic level competency in regards to operational security.

Joining The Darknet Collective

If you meet the requirements above please send a mod mail from the account you wish to have added, once we have verified you are a representative of said market you will be added based on a majority vote.

Reporting Scammers

Scam reports submitted to the Collective must meet the following conditions:

• You sent money to a vendor, no order arrived, and they have completely ignored your messages.
• You sent money to a vendor, your goods were seized, and they are not honoring their refund/reship policy.
• You sent money to a vendor, your goods were not as described, and they are refusing to respond to honor their refund/reship policy.
• Any vendor that threatens to or does release customer information.
• Any vendor that attempts to extort a customer.

Assuming the conditions are met, the Collective will accept the submission of a scam report. They currently request that scam reports get submitted through the mod mail feature on the /d/DarknetCollective subdread. They ask that reports adhere to the following format:

[b]Vendor Name:[/b] Answer Here
[b]Market Used:[/b] Answer Here
[b]Market Resolution:[/b] Answer Here

[b]Brief Explanation:[/b] Answer Here

[b]Evidence:[/b] Answer Here

After receiving a submission, the members of the Collective will review the report and cast a vote. They will publish the result of the vote publicly after all (or the majority) of the members cast their votes.

Who owns The Darknet Collective?

Nobody, this is a group effort by market admins to try and improve the state of the eco-system. We feel vendors should be held accountable and we feel customers should have the ability to complain to a independent third party if they are scammed. A market does not last forever, and while markets involved in this scheme are of low value in a few years time we will gradually raise in popularity - meaning the work here will eventually mean something.

The Collective’s new subdread is /d/DarknetCollective.