The “Yelp-Ification” of the Dark Web: An Exploration of the Use of Consumer Feedback in Dark Web Markets

• Author: Jordan Brinck,Brooke Nodeland,Scott Belshaw
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862231157519
• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Date: 01 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862231157519

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2023, Vol. 39(2) 185 –200

© The Author(s) 2023

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10439862231157519

journals.sagepub.com/home/ccj

Article

The “Yelp-Ification” of the

Dark Web: An Exploration

of the Use of Consumer

Feedback in Dark Web

Markets

Jordan Brinck1, Brooke Nodeland1, and

Scott Belshaw1

Abstract

Law enforcement are tasked with confronting a variety of crimes on a daily basis,

ranging from traditional offenses, such as burglary or assault, to online crimes,

such as identity theft. The expansion of the internet has provided a new realm for

investigatory consideration as buyers seek the tools of the crime as well as illegal

products online. Since the inception of the Silk Road, the Dark Web’s first darknet

marketplace, buyers and sellers have worked together to distribute and obtain

products and services that were previously only available offline. For example, drugs,

weapons, consumer data such as credit cards numbers, and other illicit products

are all available for purchase on the Dark Web. Early on, Ross Ulbricht, founder of

the original Silk Road Dark Web marketplace, incorporated consumer “reviews”

on illegal websites to protect customers and to ensure that sellers were not taking

advantage of potential buyers. The nature of illicit markets, where websites, vendors,

or markets themselves can be online one day and gone the next, present challenges

to developing a complete understanding as to how these networks operate. This

study builds on existing research by providing an exploratory examination of the

prevalence of consumer feedback and review indicators on approximately 50 Dark

Web marketplaces. Findings indicate that more than half of explored sites displayed

consumer reviews on their postings. Policies incorporating feedback indicators may

be implemented to both identify and target for investigation and prosecution highly

rated and high-profile sellers on Dark Web markets.

1University of North Texas, Denton, USA

Corresponding Author:

Brooke Nodeland, Department of Criminal Justice, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle,

Denton, TX 76203, USA.

Email: brooke.nodeland@unt.edu

1157519CCJXXX10.1177/10439862231157519Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeBrinck et al.

research-article2023

186 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 39(2)

Keywords

Dark Web, feedback, markets, Yelp

Introduction

How do consumers know which restaurants to avoid when visiting a new city or which

brand of a particular item they should purchase? Consumer reviews are often used by

new customers before making purchasing decisions or choosing where to eat. Today,

websites, such as Amazon, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, allow people to share detailed

accounts of their experiences online, which may contribute to establishing authentic-

ity, reliability, and a creation of trust (Kim & Kim, 2020). The process for reviews on

these websites is no different for sellers offering goods or services on the Dark Web,

where customers may be similarly swayed from purchasing drugs on an illegal mar-

ketplace with a low rating, in the same way they might avoid a restaurant that has a

one-star rating in the real world. Indeed, business will flock to services displaying an

ample amount of good reviews, thus, enhancing the confidence of the buyer as well as

the overall profit for the business. The ever evolving and expanding nature of Dark

Web marketplaces since the inception of the Silk Road, suggests that the demand for

anonymous marketplaces to carry out transactions of illegal products and services

remains prevalent. At its core, the Dark Web hinges on a libertarian framework, built

upon the belief that the land of the free should be exactly that (Belshaw, 2020); the

principal notion of anonymity spawned from this perspective, reflecting the belief that

the role of government interaction or interference between individual entities is in

direct contrast with the Constitution and the freedoms it grants its people. The right to

privacy suggests that a person’s private information should be free from public scru-

tiny, and privacy and anonymity are considered vital to a healthy, functioning, and free

society. Today, the advancement of technology allows consumers on the Dark Web

have access to feedback and trust indicators that may contribute to transactional trust,

without fear of their purchases being tracked. Given the importance of consumer

reviews on the surface web, it would seem that Dark Web sellers may be similarly

interested in establishing a reputation as a legitimate seller, while consumers would be

interested in assurance they are purchasing quality products from a reputable seller.

The experiences of earlier customers can then influence future customers’ trust in a

website’s product, which over time will build the reputation of the website as a known

quality seller. Rather, a buyer’s overall opinion is formed based on past experiences

built over a period of days, weeks, months, and even years, thus establishing a reputa-

tion, whether good or bad, which constitutes a measure of trust allowing customers to

make the best choice (Botsman, 2018).

This study uses data collected from Dark Web marketplaces to explore the use of

feedback for illicit products. First, we establish the importance and relevance of using

feedback indicators to generate trust in online markets. Then we specifically explore

the prevalence of use of feedback indicators to determine those products that appear

most frequently in these markets. Findings from the study will contribute to the