Hit or miss: busting dark web murder-for-hire

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Unmasking the Dark Web: Inside the Takedown of a Murder-for-Hire Scam

At Web Summit Vancouver 2025, digital world expert Carl Miller recounted his chilling journey into the dark underbelly of the internet, exposing a murder-for-hire website and the shocking truth behind its operation.

Miller’s investigation began in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he stumbled upon a seemingly archaic website offering assassination services. The site’s amateurish appearance belied its sinister purpose, claiming to connect users directly with the mafia for contract killings. Intriguingly, the site’s primary marketing strategy involved a comparison website, purportedly ranking legitimate assassination services while steering users toward their own platform – a clever ruse orchestrated by the same individual operating both entities.

A breakthrough came when hacker Chris Montero discovered a vulnerability in the website’s backend, an insecure direct object reference. This allowed access to every order placed on the platform, revealing a trove of disturbing requests for hits worldwide, ranging from simple assaults to elaborate murder plots. The orders, often accompanied by personal details and photographs of the intended victims, painted a grim picture of the site’s clientele and their motivations.

Miller and Montero immediately contacted law enforcement, but their efforts were initially met with skepticism. Undeterred, they embarked on a mission to warn the individuals targeted in these orders, a daunting task that required navigating disbelief and fear. Their initial attempts to contact the targets directly proved futile, as the outlandish nature of the threat was often dismissed as a scam. They then shifted tactics, enlisting local journalists to establish face-to-face contact and build trust before revealing the danger.

One of the first individuals they contacted was Elena, a woman living near Zurich, who, upon learning of the threat, revealed she was embroiled in a contentious divorce. Her husband’s subsequent arrest uncovered a cache of weapons and other incriminating items, highlighting the very real danger posed by those placing the orders.

As the investigation progressed, Miller and his team uncovered a pattern of incompetence among the supposed hitmen, leading them to realize the entire operation was a sophisticated scam designed to extort money from desperate individuals. Despite the fraudulent nature of the website, the intentions of those placing the orders remained chillingly real.

Collaborating with the FBI, Miller’s investigation ultimately led to the disclosure of 175 paid kill orders, resulting in numerous arrests and convictions worldwide. The operation was attributed to a Romanian cybercriminal cartel, whose apprehension marked the end of this dark chapter.

Miller’s experience revealed a disturbing truth: the individuals involved in these plots, both those ordering the hits and those targeted, were often ordinary people driven to extreme measures by a desire for control. The website’s accessibility lowered the barrier to entry for such acts, demonstrating how easily desperation can turn deadly in the digital age.