Hundreds of purported coronavirus vaccines, personal protective gear and antiviral drugs are for sale on the darknet, an Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) report has found.
As countries around the world struggle to keep up with demand for PPE, the report, conducted by the Australian National University’s cybercrime observatory on behalf of the AIC, found 224 listings of PPE from 110 vendors on 12 omnibus Tor darknet markets.
“We found almost half, 45%, [of all coronavirus-related product listings] were PPE. A lot of surgical marks, a lot of K95 masks. Lots of gowns and sanitisers,” ANU professor Rod Broadhurst told Guardian Australia.
“And surprisingly a lot of dealers were selling bulk PPE, so thousands of gowns, and thousands of masks and so on, and they had quite hefty prices on them.”
Mask, sanitisers and gloves were the most common, followed by protective suits, diagnostic equipment, rapid testing gear and thermoscanners.
One bulk offer on one market was for 10,000 “good quality lab-tested face mask for corona[sic]” valued at A$17,952.
Most of the sellers were purportedly from the US or China, but two vendors said they were based in Australia.
Around one third of the listings were repurposed medicines, including antiviral drugs touted as a treatment for coronavirus by US president Donald Trump, chloroquine and hydroxycloroquine.
The prices were several times higher than the same drugs would be when purchased with a prescription in Australia.
“That’s obviously the kind of classic profiteering going on from the global shortage and lots of worries. The pandemic has made people worry a lot.”
The study did not attempt to purchase any of the products to see whether they were just scams. When it came to the 6% of listings that were marketed as vaccines or cures for coronavirus, particularly from China or specifically Wuhan, Broadhurst said he found those “particularly freaky” even if many of them were likely fraudulent.
“We know a lot of this stuff will probably be bullshit, but there will be a lot of genuine stuff as well,” he said.
“Apart from the fact people think they’re immune when they’re not … there’s an element of concern there about diversion from real [vaccine] trials.”
The median prices for the alleged cures were $575 but some of the products were selling for as much as $24,598.
Other items excluded from the survey included coronavirus-related recreational drug specials, as well as malware and phishing products tailored to the pandemic.
While profiteering was rife, some market players were threatening to expose those who were trying to scam people during the pandemic.
“Anyone who runs coronavirus scams I will personally make it my mission to blow their doxx wide open to the entire darknet and the entire LE [law enforcement],” one user said.
Another darknet market banned the sale of Covid-19 products entirely.
“No magical cures, no silly fucking mask selling, toilet paper selling. None of that bullshit. We have class here,” the market said.
Broadhurst said this was good because of the harm reduction it brought with it.
“Although our research suggests it does help if police nail a few of them and that encourages them to be more ethical,” he said.
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Disruption to global trade was also affecting products being sold on the darknet, Broadhurst said.
“Lots of complaints about deliveries of precursor drugs not getting to a destination from China, lots of worries about delays in the postal service,” he said.
“From what we can tell, anecdotally, prices are already jumping because there is a shortage of some products.”
