How to Verify an Onion Link
How to verify an onion link is a procedure. Clone pages win when you skim the first dozen characters, or when a directory paints a green dot because something answered.
Full-string comparison
A v3 host is 56 lowercase characters, then .onion. Compare every character with a string already saved from a Darkbrief entry, such as Torzon market link. A matching prefix is how the kit keeps a familiar start. This page does not reprint foreign onions “for comparison.”
0/O, l/1, rn/m
Phishing kits swap lookalike characters in the middle and leave the opening alone. Read the monospace block on the entry. A logo, a countdown, or a review score is not that block.
Phrase and PGP before a password
If the page shows an anti-phishing phrase or a canary, confirm it before any password. A signed list only counts when the fingerprint is one you already stored. A fingerprint printed next to the claim is the claim. Nexus in October 2026 is the reverse case: no signed farewell, then a reported key leak on 7 October. See PGP and October 2026.
Never from ads or a “new mirror” chat
Exact-match ads, a Telegram “support” account, and a post-downtime message that offers a fresh link are hostile until the string matches. Clearnet hubs in scan sources redistribute talk. They are not logins. Bookmark the filed host and a second one from the same entry. One bookmark is not a spare.
Stop rules
The page loaded. That is not proof. The first characters match. That is not proof. Only the full string in this brief, then the phrase, then PGP.
Clone shapes for the loudest name: fake Torzon onion.