My assumption is that the really bad guys will probably be using TOR, and making themselves damned near impossible to track and trace (unless someone makes an error and exposes an exit node, I guess). I have to use TOR Browser to email one of my former colleague friends, as that's the only way he'll use online communication, and having very briefly had a look around the chaotic world there, with what seems to be unlimited law breaking, it makes the "Snoopers Charter" seem completely pointless for its stated purpose.
Thanks for the heads up on those VPN providers, I guess I shall have to keep looking. I'll admit to being surprised that VPN providers could be complicit, but thinking about it, it does seem like an obvious way to create a honey pot trap, so I suppose that it was inevitable.
If TOR wasn't so slow, and the "dark web" so limited (or inhabited by some very unpleasant characters) then it seems to offer the most promise, but frankly it seems to me to be almost unusable for anything other than sending private messages, or buying guns, drugs etc, unless you're a lot more internet savvy than I am!