In Utah, he quickly convinced the family’s new pastor, Jeffcott, that both Christina and Cisco loomed over their household like specters. “They really were creating problems for the children,” Jeffcott told me. “I mean, wetting the bed — just really bad consequences from exposure to the birth parents.” But the Pences’ concern was vague. Christopher considered Cisco a Lothario but did not think his behavior in that regard involved the children. Christopher had been raised religious, and in his mid-20s he began to lean more on his faith for guidance on life’s biggest questions.
- So to get around that, we recruited some brave local journalists from each target’s home country to try and reach them in person, and put them in touch with us.
- Our investigation has spanned more than 11 countries, and involved the FBI, Interpol, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Crime Agency, and local police forces all over the world.
- She says the murder-for-hire sites are all about making big money, and that she found millions of dollars of profits in an online account she believes is linked to Yura.
- At that court appearance, Harper said it was her “divine right as a mother to protect my children” from KV, who she had accused of abusing her children mentally and physically for years.
- The Corderos had made three cross-country trips to visit their children — twice in Washington, once in Texas — and knew they could not afford to keep doing so.
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Whilst there are many illegal activities occurring on the dark web, we believe hitmen-for-hire sites are mostly scams. Of course hitmen do exist and there are reports of dark-web related murders, it’s just that these murder-for-hire eCommerce style sites smell so much like scams. Criminal services include the purchase of firearms, illegal drugs, counterfeit money, stolen data, cyber attack software, and the hiring of hitmen.
Are Dark-web Hitmen Services Just A Scam?
I don’t work at an NGO, a private detective agency, or in law enforcement. I’m a podcast producer, and earlier in 2020 I’d started work on a new series about the dark web. Then one day in June, our team got a call from Chris Monteiro, and everything changed. Upon inspecting his phone, police discovered he’d been having affairs and had sent messages and money to the Dark Web site in exchange for murder.
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The Tor network, while offering anonymity, also harbors significant dangers. Be extremely cautious of potential financial scams, phishing attempts, or fraudulent schemes. We are not responsible for any financial loss, data breaches, or other damages you may incur from interacting with linked content. Before we delve into the dark and sinister world of hitmen, let’s shed some light on the Dark Web itself.
New Research Shows Some Of The Hitmen Services On The Dark Web Are Probably Just Shooting Blanks
Of course, due to the nature of unenforceable contracts, such guarantees are worthless. The sites are full of “trust signals” that are designed to make visitors feel like they are dealing with a legit website. We found that a lot of the sites just don’t feel trustworthy to begin with. There’s a level of desperation to look legit that gives it away. Each site is decorated with stock photos of hooded men pointing guns, and we believe that every offering we found is likely a scam.
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Many offensive cyber firms set up shop in countries with weak regulations, providing hacking tools and services to buyers worldwide. White-hat hackers and cybersecurity firms routinely offer penetration testing (ethical hacking) services to help companies find and fix vulnerabilities before bad actors exploit them. These legitimate cybersecurity professionals operate within strict legal and ethical guidelines, often with government contracts and regulatory oversight. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and previously obtained by Oxygen.com. The team contacted police in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin regarding a suspicious local person on Jan. 12.
Are Hitmen Real On The Dark Web?
While hitman-for-hire services have been rumored to exist on the Dark Web, their actual existence is murky. Some say they are elaborate scams designed to dupe unsuspecting users of their hard-earned cash. Others claim they’re real but extremely rare and difficult to find.
He was ordered to get a mental health background check. During his investigation, Miller also reached out to potential victims to tell them their private information — including workplace addresses and photographs — had been posted online. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
- Monteiro’s exploit still worked and he could read all the messages between Yura/Barbosa and his customers, just as he did back in 2016.
- She said that she’d tried to stop the hit, but couldn’t do so because she couldn’t access the site after she’d made the order, the FBI wrote.
- It’s now the subject of a podcast series, Kill List, from Wondery and Novel.
- This sort of spontaneous anger, which might otherwise be spent on a Twitter or Reddit thread, can now be unleashed on sites where users believe their clicks can kill.
Despite this, Innes’ site has resulted in several further convictions for those attempting to employ the supposed services, as he checks messages sent to him and refers any serious requests to law enforcement agencies. The data dump, which has been viewed by IBTimes UK, contains user accounts, personal messages, so-called hit orders and a folder marked ‘victims’ that contains nearly 200 images. The leak, uploaded in three separate archives, also holds email addresses, hashed passwords, usernames and user IDs belonging to over 300 registered accounts. Two of the leaked files, in .CSV format, contains 38 hit orders and nearly 3,000 personal messages sent between budding customers and the website’s administrators. If you believe the rumours, the dark web is full of nefarious websites that sell everything from drugs to weapons to government leaks.
Governments around the world are leveraging private cyber firms for intelligence gathering, disruption of enemy operations and even political espionage. Meanwhile, individuals are hiring hackers to settle personal scores, hack social media accounts and steal data. Screenshots from the site showed that “cattree” ordered a murder for hire on Jan. 11, according to the criminal complaint.
We made progress in some cases, but we also encountered police forces that literally laughed at the victims when they tried to report the crime, or tried to discourage them from believing us. Defense attorney Kevin DeVore countered that authorities never looked beyond Stephen Allwine and that there were other people who may have wanted Amy dead. He says those people could have left clues at the crime scene, but first responders bungled the investigation. Prosecutor Jamie Kreuser says the smoking gun was a 34-character code in a message from Dogdaygod, paying for Amy’s murder in bitcoin — that digital currency that people on the dark web often use to buy and sell anonymously. The problem for Stephen Allwine was that code was on his computer. Afterwards, Innes converted RentAHitman.com to a supposed front for a contract killing agency, though he included numerous jokes in its content to clearly signal the site is a parody.
Offering $9,750 in Bitcoin for the job, she added the woman’s work and home addresses, her car’s license plate number as well as other details to help the killer locate and identify her. The price for these grisly but fake services has run between $5,000-20,000, in Bitcoin, Motherboard reports. Disturbingly, tons of people have fallen for the scam and actually forked over money in the hopes of arranging a murder.
Meant to send a message.• Full Black Ops – Multi-target, multi-location coordinated removals. While many vendors online boast previous military experience, law enforcement experience, or connection to larger criminal activities, Dr. Holt negates the stereotypes of professional hitmen we see in movies and other media. Dr. Holt’s research shows that the cost of hiring a hitman online varies, but averages around $20,000.
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In fact there have been several arrests as a result of an investigation carried out into scam sites operating as contract-killer organizations. “She wants the victim to be able to move on with her life,” her attorney Jeff Whitt said, 10 News reports. “I have waited for 2 months and 11 days and the job is not completed… does it need to be assigned to someone else? Sasser placed her initial order on Jan. 11, 2023, and sent a follow-up message to the site administrator in March, asking why it was taking so long to have the woman killed, the complaint said.
