They then switch to apps like Wickr to confirm sales and make transactions.Īs messages are purged, no traces are left behind, making it a safe space for criminals to operate. Past reports suggest that there has been a rapid increase in drug dealers using social media platforms to attract customers. There are numerous others places were buyers and sellers are swapping details with the intent to buy and sell illegal drugs.Īccording to Vice, this was particularly prevalent on the DNMUK subreddit, a popular forum for UK based drug users, which has since been banned for violating Reddit rules. These posts are complete with Wickr usernames, allowing buyers to contact them via the private messaging app.Īnd that is just on the official Wickr subreddit. Mixed in with the numerous messages requesting banned substances, there are also a fair number of users brazenly offering drugs for sale. Wickr is not open source and has not allowed auditing of the software. Somebody in Hong Kong is openly looking for cannabis and another in Melbourne is on the hunt for LSD. The Wickr subreddit reveals a lengthy list of request for various illegal substances. As a result, criminals are exploiting the protection that Wickr offers to keep their activities well hidden. Users can download the app for free via the App Store on IOS or the Google Play store on Android. While great in principle, less legitimate enterprises have set up shop on the business-friendly messaging app. However, Wickr hasn’t quite attracted the crowd that it, or they, would have been expecting. The app secured early funding from some of the biggest names in the investment world. The likes of early Facebook investor Jim Breyer and Gilman Louie, the founder of the CIA’s strategic investor In-Q-Tel, are among the company’s backers. Even then, the message would have long since expired.īuilt using $73m of investors’ money, Wickr was created for a legitimate purpose. Each user sends a short video in order for the other person to confirm that they are speaking to the right person.Īccording to Wickr, the level of security that their app offers means that it would take trillions of years to gain access to even one message. For the particularly security-conscious, users are able to verify the identity of their contacts by exchanging “keys”.
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