Markets: Black Market Reloaded

Black Market Reloaded was launched during June of 2011 by Backopy, and gained significant popularity shortly after the Silk Road marketplace prohibited weapon sales and shut down their extension that allowed users to buy and sell munitions known as “The Armory” during August of the following year. This marketplace quickly grew to be the Silk Road’s largest competitor, primarily because it not only allowed for the sale of everything allowed on the Silk Road, but also for many things that were prohibited, including weapons such as firearms and ammunition, and poisons such as Ricin. It was the main selling platform for some of the most successful dark-net gun runners in history. Aside from its’ lenient rules as to what could be sold, it was a rather ordinary market during its’ time, as they allowed transactions to be made only in Bitcoin, provided escrow, and et cetera.

There have been several incidences involving the sale of poisons on Black Market Reloaded reported by the media, including a 19 year old man from New Jersey, Jesse Korff, who sold cyanide, abrin and Ricin worldwide, was arrested and sentenced to 9 years imprisonment. Kroff sold poisons to an Italian woman, Kuntal Patel, who attempted to kill her mother because she “wouldn’t let her marry”, and was later arrested after a parcel seizure. A man from San Fransisco, Ryan Chamberlain, who was accused of possessing bomb-making materials, was found to have ordered poisons online from the marketplace. He reportedly bought abrin from a seller on the marketplace, which he said he planned to use it to “ease the suffering of cancer patients”. He also bought ground rosary peas, which naturally produce abrin, and pure nicotine.

On October 17, 2013, the marketplace temporarily shut down after its’ source code was leaked online by a hacker who later stated on the markets’ forum that they did not intend to bring BMR down, but rather because they could not contact market administrators about the issue, and that if they had the source code, law enforcement and private hackers could have it as well. Before the hacker made the statement, Backopy initially blamed the VPS provider, stating that the administrator stole the sites’ source code, and that the site would have to be redeveloped before it can be put back online. Backopy later changed his mind and decided to put the market back online after reviewing the source code “over and over again”, and said that if an attacker gets the source code, they “won't be able to do much other than look at it”.

Black Market Reloaded experienced a massive influx of new users after the seizure of the Silk Road, and Sheep marketplaces’ exit-scam, so massive that Backopy announced they were shutting down because it became unmanageable. They allowed their users to withdrawal their remaining funds from the marketplace before permanently shutting down in December of 2013.