In 2021, I received an alert that my email and credit card details were being auctioned on a dark web forum for $12.50. I wasn’t shocked—I was furious. But instead of panicking, I spent the next three months learning how to fight back. What started as a personal mission turned into a crash course in OSINT (open-source intelligence) and dark web forensics. Here’s what you need to know.

Forget Hollywood’s hooded hackers. The dark web is more like a digital black market flea—clunky, chaotic, and weirdly mundane.

• Access: Requires Tor Browser (think: a VPN on steroids).
• Content: Stolen data, drugs, fake passports… and endless catfish scams.
• Surprise: Most dark web users aren’t masterminds. One seller I tracked used their real Instagram handle in a Bitcoin transaction.

Why Investigators Care:

• Ransomware Groups: Like LockBit, who post victim data if payments fail.