In this guide we explain everything you need to know to connect to Incognito Market on the dark web.
Incognito is a smaller, drugs-only darknet market that was founded in early 2021. In this time, it hasn’t managed to attract as much attention as some of its competitors and remains relatively under the radar of the darknet market community. According to the market’s terms of service, Incognito was founded “to make the danger of buying drugs on the streets almost non-existent.” The market has banned the sales of opioid-type drugs (such as heroin, oxycontin, fentanyl, etc.) and is relatively strict about the type of items it allows to be hosted.
As a smaller market that has yet to truly establish itself, it has a lot of hiccups, such as the lack of subcategories. This can make it painful to browse items related to your interest, even though some categories have only a handful of pages. Incognito relies on the old-school account wallet system which makes it ripe for an exit scam. Additionally, it does not support multisig or per-order payment types. On the upside, Incognito does support Monero, which we absolutely recommend using over BTC for darknet market purposes.
We appreciate that Incognito tries to re-imagine the darknet market shopping experience from the ground up, taking a unique approach to their market’s construction. For one, Incognito is browsable by listings or vendor, giving vendors a better opportunity to market themselves to repeat buyers. Incognito also has an entirely separate casino section, though we didn’t have time to look much into it.
We also appreciate that Incognito is big on PGP use, forcing 2-FA on login (meaning you will have to decrypt a message each time you want to log into the market). While it does not force PGP encryption, it offers an “autocrypt” feature, though even the market itself recommends not using it (in short, you should always PGP-encrypt any shipping or other sensitive information when sending a message to a vendor). Unfortunately, Incognito Market is just too small to be interesting at present, but perhaps it will attract a wider assortment of vendors (and products) in the future.
Basic Facts about Incognito Market
- Incognito Market link: zguhsmugwcb7iivknafp7ph3twup57olx5zulhbjacgtetihrvg7maad.onion
- Year founded: 2021
- Cryptocurrencies accepted: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR)
- Total Product/Service listings: 2,100+
- Listing Categories: Benzodiazepines, Cannabinoids, Dissociatives, Psychedelics, Stimulants, Miscellaneous
- Multi-signature escrow? No
- Finalize Early? Yes
- Cost of vendor bond: $300, $1500 for FE (free for established vendors)
Before Getting Started
Before attempting to use Incognito Market or any darknet market, there are a few subjects with which you must possess at least an intermediate level of understanding. They include the following:
- How to send/receive cryptocurrency. This applies specifically to Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR). You must be comfortable with the idea of sending crypto to another address before proceeding. Beyond that, it’s good to know how to properly store crypto and keep it safe from unwanted attention. We recommend using Monero when possible as it is better for OpSec purposes.
- How to use the Tor browser. The Tor browser is what makes it possible to access hidden sites (ending with the suffix “.onion”). You must not only have Tor installed to use Incognito Market but also know how to use it in such a way that you can maintain the greatest degree of privacy possible.
- How to practice good OpSec. OpSec is short for Operations Security, which is the art of putting yourself in the shoes of an adversary to limit information you leak that could be used against you. In terms of internet use, good OpSec means never re-using login names or passwords, never sending coins to a darknet market directly from an exchange, and generally revealing as little information about yourself as possible when using the darknet.
Disclaimer: This guide is for research purposes only and should not be construed to be advice; legal or otherwise. The authors of this guide do not condone activities that are illegal in your jurisdiction or others. Use the contents of this guide and/or Incognito Market at your own risk.
Don’t Get Phished
One of the different things about Incognito Market is their captcha system; the second half of which usually requires you to enter in two missing characters from the market’s URL. This sounds like it should be easy enough, except sometimes the URL displayed in the captcha doesn’t match the URL of the mirror you are currently on. This is the market’s way of forcing you to verify that you are on a proper link. It’s a good idea to retain access to the main market link, which looks as follows:
Keep in mind that the number 1 way to lose money during a darknet market shopping experience is through getting phished, which is why it is essential that you know for sure you are only using verified market links before making a deposit.
Creating an Account
After passing Incognito Market’s captcha and verifying that you arrived using a legitimate link, you’ll be brought to the main login screen, which looks like this:
To begin the account creation process, press the “Register Now” button. The account creation screen is simple as the market requires only the most basic of information to get started.
After creating a username, password (entered twice) and filling the captcha, press the “Register” button. Next, you’ll be brought to a screen that displays an Account Secret and Mneumonic (sic). You will need this info to verify your account should you ever get locked out for some reason.
After saving the Account Secret (1 word) and Mneumonic (6 words) somewhere secure, press the link agreeing that you understand “both are irrecoverable”. You will then be brought back to the login screen.
Notice how, along with your password, you’ll also be asked to enter your “Secret Word”, which is the same thing as the Account Secret. Enter this info along with your username and the captcha solution and press “Login”. You will then be brought to a welcome screen that asks you if you would like to Browse the Market or Start Betting. Press the first option to get started looking around the market.
The main market screen offers newcomers the following message:
“Incognito Market is a market with a focus on both ease of use and security. With a small, dedicated staff team and nothing useless or bloated to slow you down. Shopping for your happiness in a pill has NEVER BEEN EASIER.
Please verify your mirror at all times with our PGP key, check our canary and ready thoroughly through the terms of service and faq sections before your initial deposit.”
While this might seem like a lot of homework, it is absolutely essential reading for those seeking to place an order on Incognito Market for the first time. You are of course free to browse the market before learning the finer intricacies of how it operates, but we recommend familiarizing yourself with the process as instructed before making the decision to deposit coins there.
Setting a PGP Key
To enter your PGP public key, which will be needed to decrypt communications sent from the vendor or other parties, click the Settings icon toward the top right corner of the screen. It looks like three sliders and can be found right over the start of your username. Next, scroll down to where the Update PGP Key text box is in full view. This is where you will paste your PGP public key, which will look something like this when correctly entered:
Press “Update” after you have pasted the PGP key to continue. You will then be presented with a message encrypted with your public key. Decrypt it with the corresponding private key via your PGP utility (such as Kleopatra or GPG) and paste the results in the text box below the message.
Press “Proceed” to continue. You will then be greeted by a popup window informing you that your PGP key has been successfully updated. That’s it. You will now be able to start placing orders on the market.
Making a Deposit
Incognito Market uses the traditional account wallet system, which means you must first deposit funds into your market account before attempting to place an order. Because employment of this model brings with it the risk of pulling an exit scam, we recommend minimizing the potential damage by only depositing enough funds to cover one order at a time. This way, in the case the market does go down (for whatever reason), you will have only lost one order’s worth of funds.
To make a deposit, click on the dollar sign circle icon toward the top right of the screen. Hovering over this will display the current prices of Bitcoin and Monero. You will be brought to a message screen that informs you of your current balance in both BTC and XMR. Click on the “Deposit” option to proceed.
Unlike most markets, Incognito does not generate a deposit address for you. To do this, simply press the “Request New Address” bar. Be sure to take heed of Incognito’s warning about their addresses before making your first deposit:
“All addresses are only valid for six hours after requested. Please use sufficient fees to ensure that your funds are confirmed within the time limit.”
Basically, don’t both generating the address until moments before you are ready to make your first deposit. This may seem a bit inconvenient but it’s better to just follow the market’s instructions rather than try to fight them over their policy. Press “Proceed” to continue. You will then be shown a popup window that says “Request Successful”. Press “Dismiss” to proceed. You will now be shown addresses and corresponding QR codes for both BTC and XMR.
Again, be sure to generate new addresses before making a deposit, each time. This will help avoid holdups with crediting your account.
Browsing Incognito Market
As mentioned earlier, Incognito is a smaller market, and as the admins have heavily restricted the types of items allowed for sale, it contains only six categories, which are not divided into subcategories:
- Benzodiazepines (80)
- Cannabinoids (721)
- Dissociatives (100)
- Psychedelics (403)
- Stimulants (657)
- Miscellaneous (154)
Unlike most other darknet markets, Incognito Market is divided rather equally into sections, both represented as menu items toward the top of the screen: Listings and Vendors (there’s also the “casino” section of the market, but we won’t get into the specifics of that in this guide). As the names infer, it is possible to browse the market by either listing or vendor, which is great for those who would prefer to go with the same vendors instead of finding new ones.
- Browse by Listings. Click for the normal view of listings, complete with filters and keyword search. Makes it easy to find an item by category.
- Browse by Vendor. Click to view the market by vendor. Also has a search box and is sortable by sales and vendor score. Makes it easy to find experienced, trusted vendors.
Clicking on the Listings menu tab reveals a grid of the market’s items, just like most other markets:
Here we can see the different sort options and some basic info about each listing, such as the name of the vendor, the price and quantity, the vendor’s ship-from location, and the category of the product. Clicking on an item brings up some advanced information about it:
Here we see pictures of the item, the price, amount in stock, discounts offered, coins accepted (not all vendors accept both BTC and XMR), shipping options, and if the vendor is FE-enabled (if so, they will have a special auto-finalize time of 6 days as opposed to the usual 12).
We like the fact that Incognito Market recognizes the importance of having good vendors and recognizes them accordingly by making it easy for users to find them first. Here’s an example of what the market looks like when browsing by Vendor:
You can glean some basic information about the experience of the vendor from this screen. You can also see that since the vendors have been sorted according to sales descending, and the top-selling vendor has only 57 sales, the market doesn’t have a whole lot of activity (especially because the runner-up has just 16 sales). From here you can also tell if the vendor is FE-approved, what their vendor “score” is (based on sales and feedback), and their stats from Recon, which is a darknet site that keeps track of vendor sales across multiple markets.
Clicking anywhere in the vendor tile brings up more specific info, such as the vendor’s number of listings, their personal introduction, and shipping and refund policies. Below this are some advanced stats for the vendor pulled from Recon:
Here we can see this vendor’s complete feedback profile, pulled from seven different markets. This info is especially handy for those who would like to determine the overall experience and trustworthiness of a vendor before placing an order with them. Below this is the vendor’s PGP key, which you must import to encrypt shipping information with if you are planning on placing an order with them.
Placing an Order
After you’ve found an item you wish to purchase, selected the quantity, coin to pay with and double-checked the shipping option(s), press the “Checkout Now” button to start the order placement process. Here is where you will enter your encrypted shipping information to check out:
We absolutely recommend self-encrypting your shipping information using your own PGP client. It only takes an extra minute or two and is considered to be the proper thing to do in terms of OpSec. Double-check to make sure you are comfortable paying the amount displayed above and that you have encrypted your shipping information. When good to go, press the “Confirm Checkout” button to place your order. Granted you have enough coins in your account balance to cover the order, the order will be placed, and the vendor will begin preparing it for shipping.
If you have a FE order (you will be informed of this prior to checkout), the vendor will have 6 days to ship it; at which point you will mark the order as finalized. For non-FE orders, make sure you have received your item and determined it is to your liking before releasing funds to the vendor. As funds for non-FE vendors auto-release after 12 days, you’ll want to file a dispute before then if the order never arrives or is not what you expected. Otherwise, releasing the funds ASAP is considered proper etiquette when placing an order on a darknet market.
You can keep track of the status of your order in the “My Orders” menu tab at the top of the screen. Keep in mind that all orders on Incognito will auto-finalize within 12 days (with the exception of FE orders, which auto-finalize in 6 days), so if you haven’t received your order by then, be sure to extend the order or file a dispute before then (unless you are comfortable that the order will arrive shortly thereafter – some international orders may take up to 30 days for delivery).
While Incognito is known for having relatively good customer service and keeping in touch with their community, we recommend never having to utilize the dispute feature. This can be made possible by only sticking with trustworthy, experienced vendors who know what they are doing. Most vendors are dedicated to protecting their reputation, but occasionally problems do happen. We recommend trying to resolve an issue with a vendor before taking it to the level of dispute every time.
Incognito Market Url
zguhsmugwcb7iivknafp7ph3twup57olx5zulhbjacgtetihrvg7maad.onion
Conclusion
In all, Incognito Market doesn’t have a whole lot to offer that isn’t already being accomplished by bigger, more sophisticated darknet markets. It is limited to a relative handful of experienced vendors that have only a few hundred sales between them all. For whatever reasons, vendors simply haven’t been attracted by it; maybe the reason being the ecosystem has been saturated with better choices already. Reliance on the traditional deposit system and lack of sophisticated payment options could be principal contributors to the market’s mediocre success thus far.
Having said that, Incognito recently launched a campaign to encourage new vendors to join, charging a fair, fixed commission of 5% on each sale and giving buyers the option to browse the market by vendor (this provides visibility for vendors they might not get elsewhere). Incognito seems to go out of its way to provide a positive experience for all users, apparently doing the best they can to provide a virtual environment to facilitate the transfer of crypto for drugs. We recommend this market up to trusting it with enough coins for one order at a time. Beyond that, it’s a gamble, as is par for the DNM course.