Part 1: China’s date rape drug dealers embrace Twitter as a virtual billboard

Project Aboveground was born out of initial research into Chinese influence operation during the fall of 2019. During that research, we frequently stumbled upon Chinese language Twitter accounts employing the #香港 or #hongKong hashtags to hawk products and services  such as money laundering, carding, counterfeit documents, hacking, sex trafficking/prostitution[i], child pornography[ii] and a significant number of tweets advertising the sale of date rape drugs in the open and clear on twitter as depicted below[iii].  With the recent seizure of 13 pounds (6.05 kilograms) of the date rape drug GBL (Gamma-ButyroLactone) in international mail from China at Washington Dulles International Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers[iv], and 600[v] percent increase in date rape drug seizures by New Zealand’s customs, I thought it time to give some visibility to this foul commerce. 

While most readers frequently think of dark and deep web marketplaces as the home of illicit drug sales, their appearance on clear or surface web platforms is nothing new.   As far back as 2012, we observed Japanese language advertising on platforms such as Yahoo and Twitter for  Crystal Methamphetamine or ice (シャブ) and cannabis (お野菜),  favorites amongst Japan consumers, along with other offerings such as Ketamine and MDNA.  Interestingly enough, the Japan-based surface web, narcotics market is frequently a competition between China produced (中国産) Crystal Meth and North Korean produced　(北朝鮮産) Crystal Meth. With North Korean Crystal Meth considered the premium product and commanding 43% price increase over the Chinese made product for one gram of Crystal Meth.         

What makes the current set of twitter dealers different is their nearly exclusive focus on date rape drugs and the accompanying hardcore marketing media. This includes the Twitter dealers (毒枭) posting images and videos of incapacitated victims in real or depicted acts of rape and sexual assault,[vi] [vii] demonstrating the efficacy of their products.  In addition to the aforementioned content, some twitter-based dealers also employ small mammals.  This vile content includes video demonstrations of product efficacy on rats[viii] and even alleged testing of an aerosol version of a date rape incapacitant on a house pet[ix] [x].

While the vast majority of accounts only tweet in Chinese, using both simplified and traditional characters. The products are offered for sale globally via mail delivery, with dealers often adding “Global order acceptable. Specially for you” in English.   One delivery exception is Hubei Province[xi]( 除中国湖北外，全部可以发货).  Where apparently due to COVID-19 pandemic, dealers will ship to anywhere in China, except for Hubei province.  Twitter remains, for the most part, a virtual billboard to drive potential clients to other channels of communications both China-based such as WeChat (VX/WX, 微信), Tencent’s QQ messaging platform and Tudou (aka Potato 土豆), along with all the more common international messaging platforms such as Skype, LINE, WhatsApp, telegram (TG, 电报) and even Signal.  And while the main focus of the accounts and posts appears to function as advertising and marketing, some accounts support communications via Twitter DM (还可以推特私信我[xii]) as well. The majority of Twitter advertised date rape products appear locally sourced from China, with some also originating from Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, and India.   

TERMS – Frequently seen as hashtags

TERM	ROMANIZATION	DEFINITION
fing霸	Fing bà	GHB
FM2		Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
GAY水	GAY shuǐ	GHB
GHB		GHB
G毒	G dú	GHB
G水	G shuǐ	GHB
G水迷药	G shuǐ mí yào	Rape Water
G霸	G bà	GHB
KTV捡尸	Jiǎn shī	KTV Zombie
K仔	K zǐ	Ketamine
K他命	K tā mìng	Ketamine
γ-羟基丁酸	G-qiǎngjī dīng suān	GHB
七氟烷	Qī fú wán	Sevoflurane – Inhalational anesthetic
三唑仑	Sān zuò lún	Triazolam (Halcion)
下药	Xiàyào	to Slip a drug into somebody’s drink
东莨菪碱	Dōnglàngdàngjiǎn	Scopolamine (Devils Breath)
乖乖水	Guāiguāi shuǐ	Obedience Water (GHB/Rohypnol)
使蒂诺斯	Shǐ dì nuò sī	Stilnox
催情	Cuīqíng	Aphrodisiac
催情水	Cuīqíng shuǐ	Aphrodisiac water
催情药	Cuīqíng yào	Aphrodisiac
催淫药	Cuīyín yào	Amor Medicine
全裸水	Quánluǒ shuǐ	GHB – Nude Water
力月西	Lì yuè xī	Midazolam
卡門	Kǎmén	Ketamine
发浪	Fā làng	Debauchery – Qingdao Dialect
听话水	Tīnghuà shuǐ	Obedience Water (GHB)
咪达唑仑	Mī dá zuò lún	Midazolam
唑吡坦	Zuò bǐ tǎn	Zolpidem
喷水	Pēn shuǐ	Spray
回春之夜	Huíchūn zhī yè	Passion Night
壮阳	Zhuàngyáng	Aphrodisiac
壮阳药	Zhuàngyáng yào	Aphrodisiac Drug for Male
夢遊水	Mèngyóu shuǐ	Sleep walking water
失忆	Shīyì	Amnesia
失忆水	Shīyì shuǐ	Amnesia water
失憶水	Shīyì shuǐ	Amnesia Water
失身水	Shīshēn shuǐ	GHB
媚药	Mèi yào	Love Medicine
媚药	Mèi yào	Love Medicine
安眠药	Ānmiányào	Sleeping Pills
弥漫之夜	Mímàn zhī yè	Fulfilled Night
快活液	Kuàihuó yè	GHB
性藥局	Xìng yào jú	Sex Drug Pharmacy
恶魔丘比特	Èmó qiūbǐtè	Devils Cupid
无记忆	Wú jìyì	No Memory
春阳素	Chūn yáng sù	UNK”PGYCHEDELIC“
母猪水	Mǔ zhū shuǐ	Thailand Sow water
氟硝安定	Fú xiāo āndìng	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
氟硝西泮	Fú xiāo xī pàn	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
海乐神	Hǎi lè shén	Triazolam (Halcion
液体迷魂药	Yètǐ mí hún yào	GHB
液态快乐丸	Yètài kuàilè wán	GHB
狄乐液	Dí lè yè	Unknown, possible antibiotic Dilox
猫女迷情	Māo nǚ míqíng	Catwoman infatuation (Cathinone) [xiii]
直男迷药	Zhí nán mí yào	Straight Male date rape drug
神仙水	Shénxiān shuǐ	GHB
約會強暴	Yuēhuì qiángbào	Date Rape
红颜	Hóngyán	Brand
约会强暴药	Yuēhuì qiángbào yào	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
羅眠樂	Luó mián lè	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
肛交神水	Gāngjiāo shén shuǐ	Anal god water （惡魔丘比特/DevilsCupid）
蒙汗药	Ménghànyào	Triazolam (Halcion
蒼蠅水	Cāngyíng shuǐ	Spanish Fly (Fly Water)
西班牙苍蝇水	Xībānyá cāngyíng shuǐ	Spanish Fly
诱奸片	Yòujiān piàn	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
迷奸水	Míjiān shuǐ	Rape Water/GHB
迷姦藥	Míjiān yào	Rohypnol/Flunitrazepam
迷情药	Míqíng yào	D-R Drug/Ecstasy
迷暈藥	Mí yūn yào	Dizzy, Stun medicine
迷药	Mí yào	Triazolam (Halcion)
迷药之王	Mí yào zhī wáng	GHB King
迷魂药	Mí hún yào	Triazolam (Halcion)
酣乐欣	Hān lè xīn	Triazolam (Halcion)
金蝙幅	Jīn biānfú	Golden Bat
非诚勿扰	Fēichéngwùrǎo	You are the one

---

[i] Sex Trafficking/Prostitution

[ii] “hXXps://www.thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-pedophiles-are-using-twitter-to-share-child-porn/”

[iii]Translation  “#迷药 #春药 #催情 #捡尸 #下药 #玩弄女神  产品下酒里的效果演示，夜店必备，联系方式在主页” (Demonstration of the effects of the product in alcohol, a must-have at the nightclub, contact information on the homepage) “hXXps://twitter[.]com/OnsSoluti/status/1160783701187420160”.

[iv] “Dulles CBP Officers Seize 13 Pounds of LA-bound GBL”.  “hXXps://www.cbp[.]gov/newsroom/local-media-release/dulles-cbp-officers-seize-13-pounds-la-bound-gbl”.   Mar 5, 2020.  “U.S. Customs and Border Protection”.

[v] “Customs sees 600 percent increase in MDMA seizures at New Zealand’s border”.  “Michael Morrah”. “hXXps://www.newshub[.]co[.]nz/home/new-zealand/2020/02/customs-sees-600-percent-increase-in-mdma-seizures-at-new-zealand-s-border.html”. Feb 24, 2020. “News Hub”.

[vi] “@rofeeva1”.  “hXXps://twitter[.]com/rofeeva1/status/1223110358845378560”.  Jan 30, 2020.

[vii] “[快速暈倒拍肩粉【貨到付款】https://bertwi.weebly[.]com美國限量進口！外用快速起效！

特別聲明】本快速暈倒型拍肩粉，是最新到的新貨，每天僅售2份，#迷药 #催情药 #三唑仑 #听话水 #迷魂药 #迷晕 #直男迷药 #催情药  #迷情药   #媚药 #催情水 #香港催情水 #澳门催情水 #台湾催情水 #马来催情水]”.

[viii] “迷药迷奸 (Slang for Rape Drug)@p4nSdcakJhJB5mz”. “hXXps://twitter[.]com/p4nSdcakJhJB5mz/status/1227824952151179264”. Feb 12, 2020. “Twitter”.

[ix] “迷药春药催情药壮阳药 全球接单 @nUwRpzsVcrteKYG”. “hXXps://twitter[.]com/nUwRpzsVcrteKYG/status/1235015279140163584” Mar 3, 2020. “Twitter”

[x] 迷药春药催情药壮阳药 全球接单 @nUwRpzsVcrteKYG”. “hXXps://twitter[.]com/nUwRpzsVcrteKYG/status/1235015590366121986” Mar 3, 2020. “Twitter”

[xi] “成人保健品.5年诚信 @WX1152364730”.  “hXXps://twitter[.]com/WX1152364730/status/1233986176270225409”. Feb 29, 2020. “Twitter”.

[xii] “杰克世家 @Sm6999”. “hXXps://twitter[.]com/Sm6999/status/1238825984377237509”.  Mar 14, 2020,  “Twitter”.

[xiii]  “癡情男網購「貓女迷情水」 驗出毒品反應遭逮”. “hXXtps://www.luzhou.police.ntpc[.]gov[.]tw/cp-630-43261-23.html”.   Mar, 20 2018.  “Luzhou Precinct, New Taipei City Police Department”.