A BBC investigation has uncovered dozens of Facebook pages claiming to be selling deadly poison to people who are thinking about suicide. It's the job of scammers - but how do they work?
It's late. I open WhatsApp and see a message from the reseller claiming that he can sell me deadly pills.
"The minimum order is 100 grams and it will cost you £ 150," he says. "We pack discreetly and ship from Douala, Cameroon."
He wants to know where I am and how much I'm going to order. I ask him if the claims made on his page are to be believed: are his pills really lethal?
"It's true, but I hope you really know what you want," he says, "I'm just selling."
He tells me in detail how I should use his pills and what they are supposed to do to me. It does not ask me if I have sought help, I have tried to dissuade myself or to make me think about the consequences that my actions could have on my family and my friends.
For him, this is just another transaction.
What he doesn't know is that I'm not going to take my life, or even buy the deadly chemical he claims to sell.
I already know he's a scammer. For weeks I followed his every move, mapping his online presence and investigating his dark affairs.
Information and support
If you or someone you know needs support for emotional distress issues, these organizations may be able to help.
If you are in the UK, there are other organizations available.
"We have been doing this for a long time"
It all started with a video that I came across on Facebook, showing the hand of someone who opens a can containing a plastic bag full of big white pills.
The seller was unequivocal on his Facebook page, describing his poison as "99% pure".
The chemical he claimed to sell - which we chose not to name - has industrial uses, some of which are listed by the seller on his page.
But among his promises of "competitive prices" and "fast delivery", I also found posts describing how his pills could be used by someone who is going to commit suicide.
Posing as a potential customer, I started texting him. I wanted to see how far his lies would go.
He promised me a quick delivery if I paid for it using the cryptocurrency, which would help him remain anonymous.
I said I was concerned about the legality of the deal: it is illegal in the UK to sell this particular chemical to anyone who doesn't have a home office license. But he said it wasn't an obstacle.
"We have been doing this for a long time," he wrote. "Rest assured, you will have your product."
Scam network
At first, I thought the Facebook page was the work of a single fraudulent seller, but it quickly became clear that he wasn't alone.
I have found more than 60 pages that claim to sell this particular poison, most of which openly promote pills as a tool for suicide.
"You are buying [the pills] because you are tired of this life and you need it [them] to finish it? "asked one.
What exactly had I found?
"It fits into a larger picture that we are seeing not only with people trying to access chemicals and poisons for potential suicide attempts, but also the wider recreational drug scene," says James Coulson, a pharmacology reader. clinical and toxicology at Cardiff University. "We are witnessing a proliferation in advertising and in the potential sale of illicit drugs online."
The increased demand for these chemicals would certainly explain the number of pages I was encountering. But as I looked more closely, I saw them for what they were: a scam.
Scammers
I noticed that some of the posts I was seeing (often full of spelling mistakes) were repeated verbatim on multiple pages.
So were the photos - the same shots of powders, bottles, pills and big blue barrels kept popping up again and again.
Then, oddly enough, I came across a handful of brilliant reviews, like this:
"[The pills] they are promoted for suicide, "says Lisa Sugiura, senior professor at the Institute for Criminal Justice Studies of the University of Portsmouth." If people come back to see it again, obviously they don't do it with the product.
"They are fake accounts."
When I shared the evidence with the experts, their assessment was unanimous: the people who run these Facebook pages are almost certainly scammers.
The anatomy of a scam
By creating a page dedicated to this poison, the scammer actually creates a market stall that can be easily found on Facebook.
Suicidal people could search for the chemical and find these pages. But if sellers pay, the pills are never actually delivered. The trader is exploiting vulnerable people for profit.
"It is very unlikely [the victims] they report it to law enforcement agencies, "said Jake Moore, a former policeman and cyber security specialist from Internet security company Eset.
Shoppers might be asked questions that they simply aren't ready to answer, such as: why were you trying to buy a deadly, highly regulated poison online?
"[The victims] I feel they are trapped, "says Moore," they don't really know where to turn. "
What should you do if you become a victim of online fraud?- Report the fraud to Action Fraud
- Keep all evidence of the crime, including any correspondence.
source: Action fraud
The comparison
The time had come to confront the dealer I had written.
After revealing that he was a BBC journalist, he remained silent for a few days. But in the end he responded to my messages, arguing - wrongly - that his business did not break any law.
He also refused to disclose his identity or the name and physical address of his business (if there ever was one).
I went to Facebook with the evidence collected.
Initially, they removed some of the pages and geo-blocked others - which means that, at least in countries where it is possible to buy this poison without a license, the pages have remained accessible.
But after asking Facebook for more details, the company changed its mind and removed all the pages.
Hear this story
Download the trendy podcast by the BBC World Service
In a statement Facebook said: "We do not allow content on our platform that encourages suicide and we prohibit the sale of drugs of this type.
"We immediately removed the pages identified by the BBC and carried out a further detailed investigation, removing a number of other infringement pages involved in similar activities."
In the UK, trade in this particular chemical is regulated by the home office. A spokesman said: "The government will not allow criminals to prey on vulnerable people online and technology companies should be responsible for protecting their users.
"We will legislate as soon as possible for a new duty of care towards online companies to protect their users from illegal and harmful content."
Not finished yet
But Facebook's decision to remove all pages identified by the BBC did not deter scammers. New pages claiming to sell the poison have appeared online in recent days.
"[Scammers] it doesn't matter if it's removed, "says Jake Moore," they can simply start another. "
He suggests a technical solution - one that many tech companies use to crack down on a range of other potentially harmful behaviors.
If Facebook "could delete [the name of the poison] from being used within pages, then you may have a way to eradicate this problem, "says Moore.
If you or someone you know needs support for emotional distress issues, these organizations may be able to help.
If you are not based in the UK, there are other organizations available.
Is there a story we should investigate? Send us an email
Follow us on Twitter @BBCtrending or on Facebook.