DarkOwl’s 2025 Darknet Marketplace Study Finds Drugs Dominate Listings
Summary
DarkOwl’s 2025 dataset shows drugs and chemicals made up 68% of darknet marketplace listings, with fraud at 13%. The study also tracks leading markets, vendor and review activity, closures, and shipping patterns.
Key points
- The study ranked marketplaces by unique listings and vendors, finding that the leading markets differed across those measures.
- MGM-Grand, Archetyp, Abacus, and Elysium-Market disappeared mid-year amid law-enforcement action or suspected exit scams.
- Drugs and chemicals accounted for 68% of listings, followed by fraud at 13% and counterfeit items at 7%.
- Fraud listings included stolen payment-card data, phishing kits, and account-takeover offerings.
- Some form of review mechanism appeared on 68% of markets; 23% of listings on those markets had at least one review.
- Shipping data showed mostly regional trade, alongside international flows; the analysis excluded listings marked “worldwide.”
Article Details
- Publisher
- DarkOwl
- Report Period
- 2025
- Scope
- Darknet marketplace listings, vendor activity, reviews, product categories, and reported shipping flows across the DarkMart dataset and leading markets.
- Key Statistics
- 68% of markets in the collected data had a user review or feedback mechanism.
- Among markets with review mechanisms, 23% of listings had at least one review; across all markets, 16% of listings received reviews.
- On markets supporting reviews, listings averaged 7 reviews per post, rising to 16 for listings with reviews.
- Drugs and Chemicals represented 68% of listings; Fraud 13%; Counterfeit Items 7%.
- Within Drugs and Chemicals listings, Cannabis accounted for 41%, opioids 14%, psychedelics 11%, stimulants 12%, depressants 3%, party drugs 7%, and miscellaneous drugs 3%.
Countries
AfricaNorth America, too, sends products across the globe, including to regions like Africa—even though Africa itself contributes very few listings as a point of origin.AntarcticaA small subset of products reportedly ships from and to Antarctica, highlighting the unusual and niche nature of certain listings.AsiaAsia exhibits a more modest version of Europe’s international reach, with most shipments staying regional but a smaller proportion traveling worldwide.EuropeEurope follows a similar pattern, with many shipments staying within the continent, but European vendors also reach a wide range of international destinations.North AmericaUnsurprisingly, the bulk of shipments occur within North America.