German Man Sent $24,000 in BTC to a Murder-For-Hire Site
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has accused a 28-year-old of trying to hire a hitman on the darkweb to kill the ‘partner’ of the man he loved.
A 28-year-old allegedly searched for a hitman on the darkweb to kill “the partner of a man who did not love him back.” Based on the machine-translated text, I believe this is a homosexual love triangle(?).
Stock photo, not the defendant
In early 2020, the defendant fell in love with someone in a committed relationship with the intended victim of the murder-for-hire plot. The defendant initially tried to win the man’s love by using so-called “witches curses” available on the internet. The curses predictably failed.
At the end of 2021, the couple moved into an apartment, causing the defendant’s jealousy to increase. In February 2022, the defendant allegedly decided to have his rival murdered. He found a website on the darkweb that advertised murder-for-hire. The defendant created an account and provided the site with the name of the intended victim, a description, the victim’s address, and pictures of the victim. The hit was supposed to look like an accident or a robbery.
On March 7, 2022, the defendant sent the website administrator $24,000 in Bitcoin to complete the job. On March 12 and 15, 2022, the administrator requested more money, and the defendant sent the requested money.
On March 18, 2022, the site administrator announced that the murder would occur on March 23. On March 21, the administrator told the defendant that the hitman had been arrested. By then, the defendant had sent the administrator $24,000 in Bitcoin. The admin had another hitman ready to complete the job but would require an additional payment. The defendant paid the new fee.
Finally, on April 4, 2022, the administrator revealed to the defendant that he had fallen for a scam and would not receive his money back.
An investigative journalist uncovered the plot and sent the information to the police, resulting in the defendant’s arrest. The 28-year-old is now facing charges for attempted incitement to murder at the Berlin Regional Court.
Berlin: Mann sucht nach Auftragsmörder im Darknet – und fällt auf Betrüger rein | www.berliner-zeitung.de, archive.is, archive.org