Reporting over the Tor network
The tip form already asks nothing about you. Tor adds one more layer: it hides the fact that you opened this site at all from anyone watching your internet connection.
What the dark web actually is
The dark web is the part of the internet you can only reach through Tor. Addresses end in .onion instead of .com and do not appear in search engines. The name carries a reputation, but the technology is the same one the BBC, the New York Times and the SecureDrop system used by most major newsrooms rely on so that people can reach them without being traced.
- A .onion address is not an ordinary website with extra steps. It exists only inside the Tor network — there is no public address and no way to reach it from outside.
- It is not listed anywhere and cannot be found by guessing. Somebody has to give you the address.
- The reputation comes from a small part of what runs there. The technology itself is neutral, and most of it is ordinary: news sites, messaging, and tip lines like this one.
- Your internet provider, your employer’s network and anyone else watching the connection cannot see that you opened this site.
- This site never receives your real IP address — only that of a Tor exit node.
- Tor Browser keeps no history, so nothing about the visit stays on the device once you close it.
- Anything you type. If you put your own name in the form, no network tool can take it back.
- Anyone who can see your screen, or who has access to the device you are using.
- The download itself. If the network you are on right now is the problem, get Tor Browser somewhere else — a library, a friend’s connection, mobile data.
Getting Tor Browser
Open torproject.org and choose the version for your device. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Install it as you would any other program. It does not replace the browser you normally use.
Open Tor Browser and wait for it to connect. The first connection can take a minute.
Type this site’s address into Tor Browser and send your tip the usual way.
Why a .onion address is stronger still
- Your traffic never leaves the Tor network. An ordinary website has an exit point where traffic rejoins the open internet; a .onion address has none.
- Nothing looks the address up in the public DNS system, so no server outside Tor ever records that it was asked for.
- The address is its own proof of identity — it is derived from the service’s cryptographic key. Nobody can impersonate it with a stolen certificate. That is why it is a long unreadable string rather than a name.
- It hides where the service is hosted, not only where you are.
Our address on the Dark Web (Tor Network)
https://torontocrimestoppers.onion.org
If Tor is not an option
Call 1-800-222-TIPS from a phone that is not yours — a payphone, a friend’s phone, a phone at work. We do not use caller ID and we do not record calls, so the number never reaches us in the first place.