Variety Jones hit SR with a huge splash of 17 pages of listings . I had a lot of contact with him almost from day one . He pretended to be in the UK but it became obvious he was American . He placed orders with me via a buyer account but made " mistakes " that identified that account as being his . Before he disappeared he offered me his business , lock stock and barrel , after a lot of thought I said thanks but no . I believe he was an FBI befriender .
Interesting post.
What mistakes he made to reveal his nationality?
What made you think he was involved with the FBI?
As I said there was a lot of PM's and they were over a good period of time . There was always something a little odd that I couldn't put my finger on but in my mind he ( I'm assuming ) seemed an OK person . In 1 PM there was a reference to some law that I was unfamiliar with ( a particular name associated with ) so I looked it up and it was US , it fitted well with his manner of speech and the more I looked the more likely it was that VJ was American . With hindsight I think he was LE , Cannabis seeds widely available and aren't illegal in many Countries , so for an LE officer to get involved with trading them isn't such a huge leap off the cliff ( Unlike Nod , look it up ) . His stock was massive and he offered good prices , good service and a very solid guarantee . Off the top of my head 17 pages x 25 listings ( I think ) = 425 different seeds of which he always had a few units in stock , that represents an investment of approx £20,00 ( don't quote me these are rough figures ) . Again with hindsight , I believe he used this large presence to work his way in with DPR . I came in after the first round of publicity , so not an original but an early adopter . This stuff was all bright shiny and new for 90% of us but after a few scammers it became apparent that anybody trying to carve out a larger than usual niche was someone to be wary of but I didn't put VJ into that catergory till later
He offered me his stock ( +$250,00 his figure ) with a view to either sell off or restock as my choice . He was off to hike the Machu Picchu trails and live as a digital nomad ( his words ) . This contradicted what he'de previously said about using weed to ease his multiple sclerosis . I gave it serious thought but there was no way of getting this stock cleanly so said no . I believe this was his last play to get as much as possible out of this profile/persona before he retired it .
None of this is conclusive but I believe it to be true .
This makes sense. I had FBI added in my list in my OP already, exactly because of what you are describing PLUS some more:
- He was eager to get in touch with Ross
- He sold only seeds (legal in some US states and other countries)
- He is more likely to be an american, than a british citizen
- He had the ability to kinda brainwash Ross (psychological training)
- He had over average computer skills to find security holes. (A very good reason why Ross would be interested to stay in contact with VJ. LE would have a lot of control over the sites source code and all sellers/buyers, in case VJ was hired to close the sec holes.
You remember the time VJ offered you to buy his stock? Was it before or after the first arrests of some SR vendors?
Early on there was very few arrests of vendors and they tended to be people that were a bit slipshod with opsec , I'm not sure which ones you're referring to . However I remember it was just after the announcement of the Dread Pirate Roberts name adoption , I thought this sounded like a damn silly name but after googling the origins I got what he was trying to do/say . When VJ told me he was selling up and moving on I asked if this is what he intended to happen to his profile , another vendor continuing in his name , he replied that I was the only 1 got the offer ( hmmm ) . So if you know when the name change happened you can work out the timings of the arrests you're talking about ( add 4-8 weeks from announcement to offer )
