On the Prevention of Crimes Related to the Sale of Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Carried out Using Social Networks and Messengers

In modern Russia, crime related to information technologies has gained a rapid turn. Social networks and messengers as a means of committing crimes related to the distribution of drugs and other psychoactive substances have gained high popularity in recent years. This paper examines the issues of law enforcement agencies ' activities to prevent the sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their analogues, carried out using information and telecommunications technologies on the Internet, including social networks and messengers. The relevance of this area of activity is justified, and measures are proposed to improve the counteraction to the illegal sale of drugs carried out through social networks and messengers. The article reflects the essence of the so-called "shadow Internet" or DarkNet. The role of such social networks and messengers as "Vkontakte", "Telegram", "DrugVokrug", "Skype", as well as other information resources in the commission of these crimes is described. It is shown how the use of digital technologies has influenced the change in the typology of participants in drug trafficking. A typical composition of members of an organized criminal group engaged in the illegal sale of drugs on the Internet and consisting of a criminal leader, a drug developer, a smuggler, a wholesale drug courier, a marketer, a warehouse manager, a dispatcher, a curator, a personnel officer, a cashier, a promoter, a collector and a pawnbroker is analyzed. Each member of an organized criminal group also received their own characteristics. The article explains the need for operational units to form legendary objects in the form of information and telecommunications resources on the Internet. The paper proposes measures for effective prevention, as well as detection and disclosure of crimes related to the sale of drugs carried out through social networks and messengers.

social networks, messengers, information resources, legendary objects, designer drugs, drug crime, cybercrime