Specialist investigators from the force's Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) have warned the emerging methods are designed to make drug dealing harder to trace and more discreet.
GMP has doubled the size of its Cyber Crime Unit and created a county lines team to tackle the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.
Social media investigators are also monitoring platforms where QR codes are used to direct buyers to drug dealers' profiles or websites.
Officers say the method is popular among younger users who are drawn to the convenience of not having to meet dealers in person.
Detective Constable Rhiann O'Malley, a social media investigator, said: "The majority of social media apps allow you to share your profile via a QR code.
"There are QR codes that lead to a social media profile selling drugs, and then you have QR codes leading to traditional websites selling drugs.
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"A popular trend of a lot of drugs sold online is the use of the postal system, which and many young people seemingly prefer because it removes the risk of you having to interact with anybody.
"That is the benefit of social media - you never have to meet somebody on a dark corner if you get it delivered to your home address.
"Scams are also quite common, and people do run the risk of opening up their devices to malware and spam when scanning these.
"People could find themselves subject to fraud rather than successfully buying drugs."
GMP says it's trying to stay "one step ahead" of criminals using these methods to sell drugs.
The force has a team of professionals with specific expertise in various areas, as they work together to bring these offenders to justice, prevent dangerous drugs and weapons from entering the streets, and keep people safe.
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Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, head of SOCU, said: "We've upped the full infrastructure of the police to deal with this modernisation in terms of how crime has evolved.
"So, if there is an online component, we have officers to deal with it.
"We have a dedicated account freezing order team that can freeze assets of those who sit behind these websites.
"We also have the Cyber and Economic Crime Awareness Service (CECAS), which go to schools and engage with young people about online threats, which includes the dangers of buying drugs online. It's about dealing with all of it."
One person brought to justice through this operation was offender Ivan Hoque.
Hoque, 19, of Collingwood Way, was jailed for two years after officers uncovered an operation selling cannabis, ketamine, MDMA, THC vapes and edibles using QR codes and encrypted chat apps.
Ivan Hoque(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Weapons, including a machete and a zombie knife, were also seized alongside burner phones during a search of his address, and he admitted to several offences in Minshull Street Crown Court in March.
Detective Superintendent Harrop added: "We are one of only five forces to have a dedicated county lines task force, which is really successful.
"As part of that task force, we've got social media investigators whose role is to specifically look at the online drugs market and find ways for us to tackle it. So, I think we're well placed from a police perspective to deal with it."