Customers of an alleged college drug dealer are freaking out because they used Venmo

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Customers of an alleged college drug dealer are freaking out because they used Venmo to pay
NATASHA BERTRAND
APR. 9, 2015

Students at New York's Columbia University are in a panic after learning the drug payments they made to their alleged dealer through Venmo may be accessible by police, Capital New York reported.

The alleged dealer, Columbia sophomore Michael Getzler, was arrested on April 2 on five drug-related charges, including criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, according to Capital.

In addition to hand-to-hand transactions, Getzler allegedly accepted payment for drugs via the electronic pay site Venmo, which allows users to pay each other in seconds by linking to their personal bank account or debit card.

All Venmo transactions are public, which is why students are so worried their alleged drug dealer's public Venmo page is now in the hands of police.

Getzler only accepted Venmo payments if his buyers wrote a "funny" description of what they were purchasing.

Transaction descriptions on Getzler's Venmo page range from "cookies" to "THE THURSDAY TURNUP."

It is unclear whether Venmo will give up any incriminating information about Getzler's clients, saying only: "We work collaboratively with law enforcement when appropriate to help ensure that Venmo is a safe place to send and receive money," according to Capitol.

Two days before Getzler's arrest, an anonymous op-ed was published in the Columbia Spectator detailing what it was like to be a drug dealer on Columbia's campus.

"Weed, edibles, MDMA, coke—I have sold all of these over the past week, in staggering amounts,” the anonymous student wrote, according to Capitol. "Several hundred students (and I would call that a conservative estimate) will be smoking my weed this Saturday. There will be more than 100 students rolling on MDMA, thanks to me alone."

Though the author remained anonymous, students reportedly speculated in the article's comments section that Getlzer had written the piece.

continued here http://www.businessinsider.com/a-co...ho-paid-through-venmo-are-freaking-out-2015-4

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I thought Ivy league kids were supposed to be smart. You all have been awarded the highly coveted assclown award. Enjoy it you have more than earned it. You guys needed to wait until its legal to behave like its legal.

NSFW:
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I thought only possession that was illegal. Can you be charged for drugs you already consumed? Paying for drugs electronically is actually pretty popular here and to be honest it seems a little safer than carrying a wad of cash to a drug deal. It is dangerous for the seller but how risky is it really for buyers?
 
I thought only possession that was illegal. Can you be charged for drugs you already consumed? Paying for drugs electronically is actually pretty popular here and to be honest it seems a little safer than carrying a wad of cash to a drug deal. It is dangerous for the seller but how risky is it really for buyers?

Where I live, they call it "conspiracy to possess".
 
Since it leaves a recorded trail my assumption would be that payment of this fashion constitutes considerable evidence. If the law dogs want they can just offer the dealer a small reduction off the dealers sentence for info/testimony about the clients.

Then they charge or threaten to charge all these elite with life crushing felonies. Then the vast majority of them role and become CI. This leads to many busts they can put down when requesting future funding.

The end result will not be what the drug warriors put on thier little budget submissions. None of this will disrupt the drug trade for a second. End result will be some of the best and brightest end up getting the toilet and the drug warriors get some busts so they can pretend they are making progress. End result business as usual. Drug dealers and users will influx in through next uni class or from drug users and addicts sharing contacts that were not effected by this bust.
 
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