Fake vape shops using innocent Cork City homes marked on Google Maps to sell illegal drugs
In some of the vape shops marked on Google Maps, people can buy more than vapes. File photo: Nicholas T. Ansell/PA
In a sleepy, settled area of The Lough in Cork City, one address stands out on Google Maps. Alongside a long stretch of residential homes, there is a vape shop that lies in complete isolation.
It’s not just the typical vape shop now embedded in the popular imagination — the gaudy shopfront accompanied by tacky branding and a collection of rainbow coloured disposable vapes — this one is different.
The shop, named Prime Vapes links to a website on its Google Maps page that brings users to the encrypted messaging service Telegram. The owner of the Telegram channel isn’t just selling vapes, but a whole other host of illicit substances including psychoactive mushrooms, ecstasy and LSD.
The catch is that when you knock on the door of the building, you’re not greeted by the sprawling vape shop that’s advertised on Google Maps. Instead, it’s the sight of a rather petrified older woman asking why you are at her door.
The observed multiple instances of the same scenario taking place across Cork City. Across Google Maps, users can find dozens of examples of fake vape shops tied to residential addresses. Many then link to Telegram, WhatsApp or other encrypted messaging platforms in which users advertise the sale of controlled substances.
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For the figures behind the accounts it's an easy way to put their trade right in the open without requiring prospective buyers to enter the 'dark web'.
Noel Regan, a local neighbour to the purported drug hideout, said the situation has been playing out for weeks. A previous address on the street had also been listed as a fake shop, and had young people knocking on residents’ doors under the genuine impression their homes were operating as vape shops.
“It started about roughly a month and a half ago,” he told the . “Especially in an old folks area. Most people, you know, they'd be scared…some of them are knocking at quarter to 12 in the nighttime, in the dark.”
Upon hearing the news that her small residence is now listed on Google Maps as a vape shop selling illicit goods, the woman is visibly shaken.
“I’ll tell them to f*** off. Nobody will come to my door now, will they?” she says as she trudges solemnly back to her home. At the time of writing, Prime Vapes is now listed at a different residential address in Dublin.
Rebecca Brett, who recently sold her house in Mahon, had a similar reaction when she was informed her property was registered as the home of Unique Vape Artisans, where the Google Maps page again links to a WhatsApp channel advertising illegal substances.
“That’s scary like, if someone’s using my address for illegal business it shouldn’t be happening, I’ll have to call the guards,” Ms Brett said. "I don’t want people knocking on my door.”
Again, the Google Maps page was removed at the time of writing.
Other addresses the fake shops list to include boarded-up buildings on Stable Lane, addresses without street numbers on Oliver Plunkett St and the offices for touring company Paddywagon on Bridge St.
“We have no involvement whatsoever with any vape shop or associated third-party listings linked to our addresses,” a Paddywagon spokesperson said.
“We note that this profile has not been verified by Google. It is our understanding that such fake profiles can be set up manually by humans, automatically by Google based on information it finds elsewhere such as local directories, or by spammers using automated software.”
But who are the people running these accounts? One of the channel owners behind the accounts had purported to own The Vape & Shisa House in Washington Court — a business that does not exist in reality, or at least has no physical presence on the street it claims to be based on.
The voice on the other end of the Telegram call, a man named Josh immediately offered to sell THC vapes — vapes that contain the psychoactive component of cannabis, which is outlawed under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
He said the vapes would cost €45, with a €5 delivery fee that could be made within the space of an hour.
Despite the multiple registered addresses the Telegram channel is linked to on Google Maps, Josh said there is a physical store in Cork in which the group sell out of.
“We do not accept first-time customers to our store due to past experiences we've had with law enforcement,” he said.
“So we create a channel and put our customers in our broadcast list…when you are added to our broadcast list, you have privileges to visit our store, or you can place an order, and we deliver before taking payment when you are already added to our broadcast list.
“We have other stores in Limerick and also in Dublin, that’s the stuff we do, OK?”
In order to complete the transaction, Josh sent details of a Revolut card in order to complete the transaction. The card was under the name of Patycja Kapturksa. He said Patycja worked as a cashier for the operation.
Josh then sent a picture of a 10/10 Tropical Burst THC vape, that contained 2g of THC live resin in it.
Other users behind the channels were more hesitant to answer phone calls.
In efforts to sell the legitimacy of their business, one user behind a Google Maps page linked to a Telegram channel that contained other ‘customers’ who used the service.
On the channel, the owner posted about a further swathe of substances available to purchase, including Xanax, Enigma mushrooms, Pokemon E pills, and Lorazepam tablets. Alongside the substances there were tutorials promoting scams, such as how to clone credit cards via ATMs.
As well as Revolut, many other channel owners sought to take payments through the likes of PaySafe cards — a prepaid, digital card that is often used in drug deals and scams due to their lack of traceability — as well as cryptocurrency.
Mick Moran, CEO of Helpline.ie — Ireland’s national hotline for reporting illegal activity online — said that there is little proactive legislation to counter this current trend of accessible drug trading.
“When we get reports of those vape shops, they're basically drug-selling contact points,” Mr Moran said to the .
Currently all Helpline.ie can do is ask Google to remove the reported pages, though he said a framework to prosecute the figures behind the accounts is being developed by Gardaí.
“There’s probably feck all that can be done about it. It’s like advertising prostitution. It's the same…There'd be a fine, I suppose, but it probably wouldn't be a criminal offence.”
Mr Moran said while there was the possibility of the Telegram channels being all-out scams, the likelihood was that they were operational drug-dealing schemes.
He suggested that distributors of the drugs from these platforms could be linked to workers in the gig economy, and that some food delivery workers could have specific areas across the city in which they cater for.
“You make a buy for bud or some Es and what'll happen is the delivery will be then made by some young fella on a bicycle,” he said.
“Google can take it down. And there are ways they can write into their trust and safety AI; they can write in a way that they would identify these bogey ones.”
A spokesperson for Google said that reported listings found to be in violation of company policy were normally taken down within 24-48 hours, but did not mention any proactive measures being taken by the company.
Gardaí were asked for comment.
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