A Sunday Mail investigation has found that crime gangs are using platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp to bombard recovering drug addicts with unsolicited 'special offer' deals on cocaine and other substances, and to brazenly advertise jobs for drug couriers claiming applicants can earn £100,000 a year delivering Class A drugs across Scotland.
Dealers are routing messages through ever-changing Pakistani numbers on these platforms to drum up repeat business from vulnerable Scots, no matter how many times they try to block the sender. They then send slickly marketed drug 'menus' including flash sales and promotion codes for money-off deals.
Aggressive digital marketing tactics
Moving onto social media and encrypted messaging lowers the risks for organised criminals running drugs, who can also take advantage of anonymous crypto transactions and deliveries to online shopping drop-off lockers. People in recovery told how aggressive marketing and deliveries as convenient as an UberEats takeaway made it harder than ever to break deadly habits.
One recovering addict, who continues to be 'bombarded' with messages offering cut-price cocaine, told the Sunday Mail: "I developed a real problem with cocaine a few years ago and it was destroying my life - my relationships and my finances were going down the toilet.
"I made a conscious decision a year ago that things were going to change and I have been working really hard to stick to that. I am determined not to go back, but that is not easy when you are being hounded by dealers directly on your phone all the time.
"I have lost count of the number of times I have blocked the numbers sending these hard sell adverts for cocaine and MDMA but a week or two later another one pops up on my phone which seems to be routed through a number in Pakistan.
"It is really bad, you can't imagine the impact this has on you when you are trying to move past an addiction, it means you have this constant temptation offering you money off deals and promotion codes."
Emojis and job adverts for couriers
Examples of unsolicited messages he received, shared with the Sunday Mail, were peppered with emojis like snowflakes representing cocaine, rocket and fuel pump emojis meaning 'rocket fuel' or 'prop' - high-strength cocaine - lollipops and rainbows for MDMA and horse and unicorn heads symbolising ketamine.
Dealers even shamelessly advertised driving jobs, with one Telegram message saying: "Drivers required - £200 plus fuel per shift - 8 hour shifts 10-6 or 6-2am - earn up to £100k+ per year". One message sent out a 'new stock alert' with the dealer adding he was 'Glasgow based'. Another text punting coke offered a voucher-style discount, saying: "USE CODE (JAX10) for £10 off orders over £70".
The man, in his 40s, said it was 'the kind of sales tactics you would expect from big corporate brands being copied by people selling Class A drugs'. He said: "It is incredibly dangerous and a million miles from the way drugs were sold in the past where you had to actively seek them out.
"It is unbelievable that this is being done so brazenly that the dealers are even advertising for drivers to work as drug delivery couriers and saying you can make up to £100,000 a year."
Apps of choice and public lockers
Apps of choice for the drugs trade include Russian encrypted messaging service Telegram, other secure messaging platforms like Signal and WhatsApp, and social media favourites Instagram and Snapchat. On Telegram, you can find almost any drug with strings of 'channels' advertising 'vendors' in cities all over the world, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Your number can then be added to other groups accessed by dealers.
Cyber experts have dubbed Telegram 'the dark web in your pocket' with organised gangs increasingly using it to run criminal operations. Russian billionaire founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France in 2024 on allegations he failed to adequately counter criminal activity on the platform. He was later released and French authorities continue to investigate. Durov denies wrongdoing.
A second recovering drug user from Glasgow, a single dad in his 30s, said he recently suffered a relapse which he blamed on ease of digital access to drugs. He explained: "It's window shopping thrown in your face. For every group or vendor you leave another three add you without permission.
"Marketing is definitely more aggressive but also I think it makes it too easy for people who suffer from addiction. You don't have to leave the house and have an awkward cup of tea with some dealer who probably knows your mates or people in your social circle.
"With the digital vendors you just click a button, it goes to your postbox and no one would ever know."
Drug deliveries are often also posted to public collection and drop-off points like Amazon lockers found in supermarkets, newsagents and post offices. In recent weeks, when he was suffering withdrawals from hard drugs, the man said he went on apps to find a THC vape - the main psychoactive substance in cannabis - which he thought would help relax him.
But he said: "Even to do that I had to rifle through photos and flash sales of coke and ketamine and benzos and all the rest of it. Anyone can go and get anything they want, any time of day and the convenience is multiplied.
"You're probably funding much more serious criminal networks than you would be traditionally - like a guy at uni doing a bit of dealing. And you're going to be exposed to more dangerous drugs than you'd usually be. Someone going out clubbing looking for some weed or a few pills would mostly never think to snort a line of crystal meth or heroin.
"But by bringing this all into the same playground, it's a normalisation which is damaging to society, especially young people who are still figuring things out."
Charity urges addicts to change numbers
Annemarie Ward, CEO of charity Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) UK, said one of the first suggestions her organisation now makes to addicts trying to get clean is to change their phone number. She said: "Years ago if you wanted drugs you generally had to know somebody, phone somebody, go somewhere and meet somebody.
"Obviously that never stopped addiction but there was at least some friction between the impulse to use and actually getting the drug. Increasingly that friction has gone. Drugs have become so accessible and so normalised nobody even bats an eye anymore.
"You've got people being sent glossy drug menus, flash sales, special offers and notifications straight to their phones and you don't even necessarily have to speak to another human being. It's totally faceless and anonymous and incredibly convenient and is actually easier and faster than ordering an UberEats at times."
Ward added: "Phone numbers will be stored by dealers. They find people on apps and might just catch someone at a vulnerable moment. If you think about someone in early recovery, they might have changed their friends, stopped going to certain places and be doing everything they can to build a different life.
"But they're still carrying a phone in their pocket where suddenly a drug menu or a special offer can arrive without them even looking for it. That does bring an added vulnerability and difficulty to trying to start that journey.
"There's something quite sinister about criminals adopting all these techniques as if they're legitimate retailers - techniques used to encourage us to spend more, like convenience, attraction, presentation, promotions. The old-fashioned drug dealer hasn't disappeared, he's still there. But he's just discovered a digital marketing, home delivery and customer retention strategy.
"Unfortunately some of his customers are among the most vulnerable people in society. It's harder than ever to get well and stay well because of the way they're marketed at."
