Erickson said drug buyers create user profiles or Web pages outlining their drug use and music preferences. Once the chatting begins, conversations soon turn to drugs whos buying and whos selling, said Erickson. Its like having a normal conversation at a bar, said Erickson. Your relationship will bond online, until you actually meet in person. Theres a great deal of trust online.
Most drug dealers are very outgoing, and they like to promote their trade.
It doesnt take long to find out who those people are. Some are quite young. Erickson said the majority of the sellers he meets range from 18 to 26 years old, but run as young as 14, and are predominately middle-class whites. In Ericksons experience, users and sellers negotiate the sales online, then meet in person to exchange cash for drugs. In other cases, dealers send drugs by mail or private courier, said Peter Hampton, director of the Web Police, an online volunteer group dedicated to supplying computer-crime intelligence to law enforcers.