A British man, Mohammed Ammer Ali, was arrested after allegedly attempting to buy ricin powder. He however was transacting with an FBI agent who fraudulently sent 5 vials of harmless white powder that was not the ricin he was alleged to have paid $500 for. The counterfeit ricin was marketed as actual ricin on a darkmarket website and delivered to Mister Ali hidden inside of a toy car. Ali is a father of two who is now facing charges under the United Kingdom's Chemical Weapons Act for receiving a toy car full of a substance that was not ricin at all.

Last year Florida man Jesse William Korff was arrested for attempting commerce as a seller of actual ricin, the notorious carbohydrate binding protein featured prominently in works of fiction like award winning television series Breaking Bad and the canceled then uncanceled film by Sony Pictures, The Interview. Korff was also reported to possess two meth labs in his domicile at the time of his arrest.

Persons considering trade in this particular lechtin would be well advised to consider the entire online market for the product to be under a persistent Sybil attack by law enforcement agencies on both the supply and demand side. The chance of facing arrest while transacting in ricin on the internet appear to be extraordinarily high even compared to other contraband, but it appears especially high compared to other proteins. It appears that whether buying or selling the odds are that an excess number of potential counter parties available for trade will be law enforcement agents.