Abordnet

Hello,   It's always interesting to me to follow the various Internet-related crimes, and how they unfold. The Internet is of course a relatively new medium, and it is nice to see how criminals are slowely gravitating to the internet, and coming up with new and innovative ways to use this technology.   Over in Japan, police say that a man opened up a suicide aid service on the internet. He basically advertised deadly poison for sale on an WWW page that he created, and aimed his marketing to suicidal people, NOT to homicidal people. At least SEVEN different people did indeed order and receive the potassium cyanide capsules, after paying the equivilant of $250 to $430 amerikkkan dollars. Two of the customers HAVEindeed killed themselves, but only one of the two used the potassium cyanide that our internet poison peddler had sold her. It seems as though our budding entrepreneur was seriously suicidal himself, and he committed suicide as well, in recent days. I guess he was just trying to be helpful and aid a few other humans in achieving the oblivion of nothingness for all of eternity, before STUPIDLY embracing this oblivion himself.   Police have tracked down 5 of the 7 customers who took delivery of the cyanide, but two others remain missing and unaccounted for. All of the customers, as well as the seller, were located in Japan, and the web page was written in the Japanese language.   The name of our now dead poison peddler is not being released yet, but he was a licensed pharmacist and a school teacher, aged only 27. He did charge MONEY for the potassium cyanide, but it certainly doesn't sound as though he embarked upon this poison selling scheme as a way to make monetary profit. The potassium cyanide that he sold was perfectly PURE and real and deadly. Not a rip-off at all. The Better Business Bureau would have no complaints with the quality of the delivered product. It sounds as though this man accepted credit cards for payment, thus leaving a bank record behind, that police used and are using to try and track down all 7 purchasers, or at least the SURVIVORS who haven't yet been located. He only killed himself AFTER being informed by POLICE that one of his customers had killed HERSELF, using the cyanide that he sent her.   It is interesting how the GLOBAL nature of the internet offers a LOT of different opportunities for criminals. Look at potassium cyanide. In SOME countries, possession of this poison by civilians is VERY strongly regulated. But in other countries, there is virtually NO regulation at all. So, a cunning entrepreneur could set up an internet business selling potassium cyanide, after MOVING to a country that has no restrictions on possession or sale. Then, he or she could advertise the poison on a web page, marketing it to a GLOBAL audience, including USA residents of course. Now, if USA residents order and take delivery of the cyanide and police in the USA find out about it, the USA citizen would face legal problems. But if the seller and creator of the web page is NOT a USA citizen, and lives in a country where possession and sale of Potassium Cyanide is NOT illegal or regulated, AND if the country is NOT friendly with the USA, there is basically NO legal recourse that USA authorities could have, against this potassium cyanide seller. That's what I'm talking about when I say how many FERTILE opportunities for crime the internet offers.   Potassium cyanide is of course a VERY useful poison for someone planning to commit MASS MURDER, as well as someone planning suicide. It doesn't sound as though any of the purchasers in this Japanese case had mass murder plans for the poison, unfortunately.   Take care,                              JOE   The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire: Japan Police Investigate Internet Suicide Service December 26, 1998 TOKYO — An Internet suicide service has led to at least one death and seven deliveries of lethal potassium cyanide capsules, Japanese police said Saturday. At least one customer had killed herself using the capsules, police said. The man who ran the service also appeared to have committed suicide, as had a second customer, although the second customer had not used the capsules she ordered through the service. Two customers who had been sent cyanide packages were still being sought. The site offered medication to people who do not know how to obtain the right drug'' to commit suicide, police said, quoting the phrasing used by the Internet page. A police spokesman could not immediately say if the site was still in operation. The Internet address of the Japanese-language website has not been released. The capsules were offered for delivery by parcel post for between 30,000-50,000 yen ($258-$430), police said. The service came to light on December 15 when a 24-year-old Tokyo woman died in hospital of cyanide poisoning, police said. The woman accessed the Internet site and purchased cyanide there,'' a police spokesman said. On the same day, a 27-year-old man who allegedly ran the Internet suicide service died at his home in the northern Japan city of Sapporo. He appeared to have committed suicide, police said. The names of both have been withheld by police. The third death involved a 21-year-old Tokyo woman who did not use the capsules, but committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills prescribed by her doctor, police said. Police said they found a parcel from the man in the home of the woman who killed herself with the cyanide. He taught in a school preparing students for entrance exams and was a licensed pharmacist. They contacted him via the telephone number he wrote on the parcel's address form, asking him if he knew the woman. The man then called the hospital where the woman was taken after ingesting the cyanide, police said. He apparently killed himself when he heard that she had died. The names of six other customers were found through an investigation of his banking records, police said. Police said they have confirmed that three of the customers have not taken the cyanide. They were trying to track down two other customers of the website.