this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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YSK: you can buy (email) accounts anonymously using darknet markets (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) by hirihit640@sh.itjust.works to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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I feel like this is a hack that is rarely talked about. And it's the most reliable method I've found for getting an email account that I can use for signing up to other websites.

Imagine you want to create a completely anonymous account on some website. Most websites require an email account to sign up. if you're lucky you can use one of those a temporary email services, but many websites block those nowadays. They only accept trusted email providers like Gmail, Protonmail, etc. And trying to make an anonymous account on those providers is difficult. Even Protonmail, surprisingly. If you try to sign up for Protonmail using a VPN or Tor, they will ask for a phone number or a second email account. So now you have to get a phone number anonymously (very difficult), or get another email account anonymously, back to square one.

Darknet markets solve this problem. Pay a bit of Monero, and you get an account. Completely anonymous. Now I won't pretend it's easy. Even just signing up for a darknet market often requires learning how to PGP encrypt/decrypt messages. But it only takes an 30 min or so to figure it out and sign up, and it opens up a new world of tools to use for privacy. There are many other types of accounts that you can buy aside from Protonmail, and many other products in general that you can buy.

I don't get why Protonmail doesn't just accept anonymous crypto as an option during signup, but until they do this is honestly the most reliable option I've found. I really wish more websites just accepted crypto for account creation. It's understandable that in order to prevent spam accounts, account creation has to cost something, and crypto allows it to cost something without costing your privacy.

Anyways, here's a quick guide to get started. I'll avoid direct links since I don't know if those are allowed.

  1. install Tor Browser Bundle, and use it for the following steps
  2. search for websites like Daunt, Dread forums, and Tor Taxi. Darknet markets change all the time so use those websites to figure out which ones are currently active. Cross-check links across multiple websites to make sure they are trustworthy, since often scam websites will try to pose as legitimate ones
  3. look for markets that let you search for the product you're interested in before signing up, to save you time
  4. some markets require you to load funds into the market and then pay using those funds. Avoid loading more than you need, since some markets have "rugpulled" before (aka taken everybody's funds and disappeared. This is the risk of an anonymous market).

Edit: also if for some reason a seller doesn't accept Monero, you can use a crypto swap. Basically you send the swap service some Monero, tell them what crypto to convert it to (like Bitcoin or Ethereum), and where to send it to. Many can be used anonymously, without signup

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[–] ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Man, if you really think some darknet service is going to be more reliable just because Protonmail wants a specific kind of fiat

[–] hirihit640@sh.itjust.works 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

what do you mean? Are you talking about how you can pay for Protonmail using cash? I haven't found a way to anonymously send cash. Physical movement can be easily tracked via surveillance cameras

[–] ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 7 hours ago (10 children)

Exactly, do you really think that your data is magically more secure because you paid the vendor with bits farmed on an ASIC somewhere instead of dead slave owner portraits?

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[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Just get a Tuta account. No recovery email or phone number required. Sometimes they will kill a new account, just wait a day or two before using it or buy a voucher from Proxysrore with Monero and upgrade.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Tuta will kill any new account that is used to register to another service. It's in their ToS and you get blocked immediately.

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 0 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

I used Tuta to create my Bluesky account and all my Addy traffic goes to Tuta although I did wait a while before using my Tuta.

[–] Rick_C137@programming.dev 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Tuta is not the best check the list at the bottom of the first post --> https://programming.dev/post/50697138

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Who said it was the best?

[–] Rick_C137@programming.dev 0 points 13 hours ago

no one you're right, I was meaning it's not fitting in my need ( see my post )

[–] hirihit640@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 hours ago

I have had spotty success with Tuta in the past. Out of the 5-10 times I tried, maybe 2-3 succeeded. And I had to wait 1-2 day before I could find out whether or not it succeeded, and if it failed I'd have no idea why. I just found the process way too annoying, and I'm willing to pay a few bucks to save myself the trouble. And, last I remember, the voucher can only be used to upgrade an account, but the problem is creating an account in the first place

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

I've recently changed dozens of accounts to use Mozilla email masks. Most websites accept them, and the ones that don't I think twice if I actually need that service. I have Simple Login and 3 custom domains if I really want to, before I give out a personally identifiable name. I've only seen one service that was super strict and only allowed gmail, outlook/hotmail, and yahoo.

[–] MonaySimpson@lemmy.ml 2 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Can you elaborate on how to get get Monero and hide then transaction from BigData/Gov?

I've seen some of the basic steps but I imagine the Gov/Bank see me transfer money to a Monero.

They see that Monero account pay for ServiceX. They then see ServiceX coming from my IP (a VPN might precent this). Or they see ServiceX used by an account that is linked to me. Or they see a number of services paid for by the same Monero account.

Using a VPN is not always possible.

I've also seen machines that take cash but imagine these have CCTV to prevent theft and many link to me even harder.

[–] hirihit640@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I don't quite remember since I bought it so long ago, but I think the easiest method was to simply buy some bitcoin or ethereum at an exchange (they usually don't support monero), and then use a swap service to convert to monero. I also remember something about rinsing/washing your initial funds, by first sending them to another Monero wallet that you own? Sort of like a mixer, but since Monero transactions are mixed up by default, you can just send them to another wallet and the final wallet is now unlinked from you? To be honest I don't even know if this step is necessary. Hopefully somebody else can pitch in here with more up-to-date tips.

As for your VPN concerns, if you can't use a VPN all the time, reading online it seems like the official Monero GUI wallet supports Tor, though I haven't tried it so I can't really help here

Edit: in case you haven't heard of Tails or Whonix, I'd also recommend looking into those if you care strongly about privacy. Be warned that they are fairly inconvenient to use though

Edit2: it seems like the extra step of sending the funds from one monero wallet to another one that you own, is unnecessary. If you use a KYC exchange, then use a (non-NYC) swap to convert to Monero and transfer to your wallet, then you should be fine. Though it can't hurt to send the money to a second wallet, sort of like adding a hop to the onion routing system used by Tor.

Also, apparently Monero feather wallet has good Tor support. You can read more on reddit or the Dread forums on Tor

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[–] unitedwithme@lemmy.today 1 points 14 hours ago

Outlook gives you aliases, but obviously we're not trying to use big bro tech.

Proton paid does this as does free with limited aliases.

Then there's SimpleLogin (also through Proton) that gives you a bunch of domains to use with several other domains. The only service that rejected the alias domain was Github, but it's trash and owned by MS so nbd.

[–] recklessengagement@lemmy.world -1 points 14 hours ago

Good post, haven't tried this as I haven't felt the need but it's good to know there is a market for this.

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