Share:
Dark Web deep dive: Hitmen, hacking and credit cards
Yesterday I told you all about the Dark Web. Missed it? Part 1 is here. As expected, so many of you asked me, “Why the heck would you even go on the Dark Web?”
It’s my job
No, really! The fine folks at the Daily Mail asked if I’d do a Dark Web deep dive and report back. The reason is probably the same one you had for opening this email: It’s intriguing.
I’ve been doing this long enough that I can bring you all the Dark Web craziness without putting myself at risk. I’m not recommending you go digging around. I’m sharing for the curious among us who know better.
Follow the links
There’s a whole network of aggregators that list marketplaces, Dark Web versions of media outlets and everything else, with names like The Hidden Wiki, Onion.Live and Dark.fail. I started on Reddit with a search for “.onion search aggregators.”
Finding live sites takes trial and lots of error since they refresh their URLs all the time to evade law enforcement.
Now, let’s jump into what else I found.
👉 Are there hitmen for hire?
In theory, absolutely. In reality, you’d have to dig deep to find a real person willing to commit murder or another heinous crime on your behalf. I have to assume most of what pops up in Dark Web search engines are scams or honeypots meant to lure in someone up to no good.
One site I found had a list of rates posted for arson ($10,000 to $20,000), assassination ($10,000 to $50,000), assault ($1,000 to $5,000) and kidnapping ($15,000 to $25,000). Wild that the starting rate for assassination is less than kidnapping.
👉 They’ll hack anything
One full-service group I found says they’ve been around since 2007, and “we have worked hard every single day to improve our skills.” If it can be hacked, they’ll do it.
For a $990 minimum service fee, they’ll monitor someone in real life and digitally. Stealing a password from a specific target (a theft which they guarantee will be completed in 24 hours) is between $200 to $300.
A DDoS attack that shuts down a website for a certain amount of time starts at $200. At the high end — think taking down a big site for an entire day — you’re looking at up to $6,500. But hey, that includes a week free as a bonus! They’ll cut a deal if you want to DDoS more than one site, too.
They take Bitcoin and Monero, an untraceable cryptocurrency popular for Dark Web transactions and shady deals.
👉 Hacked financial info?
That’s everywhere. I saw ads for credit card CVV dumps (that’s the three-digit code on the back), hacked Western Union accounts, PayPal logins and Cash App credentials. One site was selling hacked bitcoin wallets at huge discounts, like $899 for nearly $96,000 in bitcoin. “In case of any trouble, we will refund your money back.” Sure.
I also stumbled onto a site selling cash if you’re willing to buy $700, $2,500 or $6,000. “All bills are genuine and ready for any use. You can exchange them, spend money in store, deposit on your card through an ATM.” Yeah, seems totally legit.
😓 Phew, buddy. Writing all that up makes me want to go take a shower. Hey, if you always wondered about the Dark Web, now you know. Share this with a friend who wants the inside scoop, too!
Tags: deals, email, murder, network
Share: