The government’s ID system monitors purchases, allowing Venezuelan’s to shop for price-controlled goods just once a week. This hasn’t stopped some bachaqueros who invest in fake ID cards and stock up on a daily basis. For Venezuelans like Maritza “bachaqueo” is a form of survival in a country that is quickly imploding under the weight of governmental mismanagement, to others it’s a harmful activity that is sucking the country dry.
“Bachaqueros don’t just charge any old price, there’s a market – it’s badly designed, but it’s a market,” explained financial analyst Henkel Garcia. Competition is fierce, with bachaqueros lining the pavements and selling identical products. But similar prices among sellers and designated selling spaces ensure a relatively functional operation. Marta, who asked that her real name not be printed, worked in a fruit shop for six years but left when the economy hit rock bottom and selling fruit was no longer profitable. In her new role, Marta earns considerably more than the minimum wage of just $35 a month she earned selling fruit, giving her the chance to provide for her family. Platforms like SecureDrop enable individuals to submit documents and communicate securely with journalists, thereby exposing corruption and wrongdoings while preserving their anonymity.
Hologram Police: South Korea’s High-Tech Crime Deterrent
With hospitals and healthcare systems overloaded, governments began putting off and cancelling more operations and treatments for other diseases, including cancer. Virtually every Latin American country saw meat and produce being smuggled, an unsurprising fact in a region with 47 million people still vulnerable to hunger and where an estimated 11.6 percent of all food is wasted. The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict reported that in the first six months of 2016, there were 954 protests over food shortages, an average of five a day, 90 per cent more than in 2015. At least 516 instances of looting or attempted looting occurred in the same period.
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Official dollar rates are displayed on signs as required by law, but real transactions are negotiated verbally at black market rates. Maduro’s government began using cash reserves in 2021 to artificially lower the exchange rate, making people at one point pay 3.50 bolivars for $1. After months of stability with similar rates, the black market dollar had in recent weeks been trading between 25 and 50 percent higher than the official rate to the bolivar, before narrowing again. Venezuelan authorities have detained 26 people in a fresh crackdown on the dollar black market, bringing the total number of arrests in recent days to 50, the country’s top prosecutor said Saturday.
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“There is a market for these medicines, because if somebody with economic resources has a sick child, they will do whatever it takes to find the medicine,” he told InSight Crime. When Latin American countries announced a scarcity of flu vaccines due to the pandemic, smugglers also saw an opportunity. In October, 10,000 doses of flu vaccine were stolen from a truck belonging to Mexico’s Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social — IMSS). But another consequence of the coronavirus kept contraband networks active as well this year.
Shadow Fleets Create Waves In Global Trade
Launched in 2023, STYX focuses on financial crime, providing stolen credit card data, hacked bank accounts and access to various cryptocurrency laundering tools. Bohemia popped up post-Hydra takedown and brings a fresh vibe—drugs (weed, pills, some coke) and digital goodies like hacked logins, no exact listing count, but it’s growing fast. They take BTC and Monero, and the site’s got a sharp, modern look—vendor profiles are loaded with ratings and reviews, easy to skim. What’s dope is their forums—real talk, not just noise—building trust like Telegram’s side hustle vibe.
Shuttered Dark Web Marketplaces
The authorities presume that the administrators of those 18 entities also have connections with the far right, as reflected the week before the May 25 elections when they increased the parallel dollar rate by 20%. Now, in the black market, a dollar costs 2,500 bolivars, according to MonitorDolarVz, compared with 3,295 bolivars at the government rate. Established in 2022, Torzon market is one of the biggest and most diverse marketplaces on the dark web. It is considered very secure thanks to strict user validations and transparent payment and vendor review procedures. Due to its extensive inventory and reputation for reliability, Brian’s Club has maintained a significant presence on the dark web.
Dark markets provide a one-stop-shop for cybercriminals, offering a wide range of services such as hacking tools, stolen data, ransomware, and Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks for hire. This increases the accessibility and sophistication of cyber threats, with far-reaching consequences for businesses. To secure against these risks, organizations invest in robust cybersecurity strategies, conduct regular security assessments, and educate employees to recognize and mitigate threats. Darknets and dark markets have fueled the growth of cybercrime, provided a marketplace for cyber threats, and expanded the attack surface for malicious actors. This hidden ecosystem challenges cybersecurity professionals, law enforcement agencies, and policymakers to devise innovative strategies to combat these emerging threats, making it a critical facet of the contemporary threat landscape.
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However, rising export demand from China – whose production benefits from cheaper energy prices – provides a boost to EU manufacturers. The result is a complex dynamic of demand-driven inflation and output expansion, where some sectors benefit from China’s growth while others struggle with higher energy costs. With seaborne transport representing over three-quarters of global crude oil trade (US Energy Information Administration 2024), these evasive tactics can significantly distort official trade statistics. Our research offers a systematic approach to identifying these covert activities and assessing their broader economic impact.
Darknets are not limited to criminal activities; nation-state actors use these hidden platforms for espionage, disseminating propaganda, and recruiting agents. Governments and businesses must invest in advanced threat intelligence, cyber defense, and counter-espionage measures. To access darknets, users typically need to download and configure the Tor Browser; a modified version of Mozilla Firefox that routes all traffic through the Tor network. This browser enables access to websites with .onion domain extensions, which are specific to the Tor network. These addresses cannot be resolved by conventional DNS servers, contributing to the hidden nature of darknets. Reporters talked to numerous Venezuelans with knowledge of the creative financial schemes that helped sink the country’s economy, either as participants or as scholars.
Two consecutive National Treasurers accepted huge bribes from casas de bolsa for the right to conduct lucrative swaps of bolivar-denominated bonds in exchange for U.S. dollars at the government-set rate. Black market premia over the five decades studied were typically below 100%, but they could rise far higher. China and the Soviet Union, along with their respective satellites, had premia in excess of 100%, with Poland’s routinely reaching 2400%. What set them apart from other economies was the stringency of their currency restrictions. Their monetary systems were designed to be hermetically sealed from the capitalist world and “crimes against the national currency” were punishable by death. The high premia reflected the risks and sheer difficulty of obtaining hard currency.
- Babina, T, B Hilgenstock, O Itskhoki, M Mironov, and E Ribakova (2023), “Assessing the impact of international sanctions on Russian oil exports”, VoxEU.org, 20 April.
- They left behind years of bartering, lining up for hours outside supermarkets or even fighting on the streets for flour, rice, bread or other food items.
- Monero, in particular, has become the preferred cryptocurrency on the dark web in 2025 due to its advanced privacy mechanisms, which obscure transaction histories and wallet balances from public view.
- It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.
- The crackdown on parallel dollar networks is not an isolated measure but part of a comprehensive strategy to restore order to Venezuela’s currency market.
How To Spot A Scam Vendor?
Black markets conjure up images of shady characters in dark alleys with suitcases of dollars. Many shadow fleet vessels are over 20 years old, and anecdotal reports suggest maintenance and crew standards may be well below international benchmarks. Incidents involving mechanical failure, groundings, or navigational errors pose elevated risks in congested waterways. As regulatory frameworks tighten and sanctions expand in 2025, especially around Russian oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), the operational footprint of shadow vessels has grown.
Some fake sellers take your crypto and never ship what you ordered, or phishing sites that look like real marketplaces but steal your login info. And then there’s malware—click the wrong link or download the wrong file, and your device could get infected. By supplying stolen data, these dark web links fuel many online scams and identity theft operations, playing a critical role in the darker aspects of the internet. As of 2020, nearly 57% of the dark web was estimated to contain illegal content, including violence and extremist platforms. In 2023, the dark web attracted an average of 2.7 million daily users, with Germany now leading as the country with the highest number of Tor users, surpassing the United States for the first time in years. The first Venezuela stock exchange was founded in 1805 as the Casa de Bolsa y Recreación de los Comerciantes y Labradores in Caracas.
