The site boasts nearly 18,000 field workers who can work anywhere in the United States. It has testimonials from satisfied customers, including one man who wrote that RentAHitman “handled my disgruntled employee issue right away while I was out of town on vacation.”
So Wein filled out a form on the website, seeking advice on her problem.
“It’s weird that your company isn’t on the deep web or the dark web,” she wrote in a message to a man she believes is the site’s chief advisor, Guido Fanelli. CNN obtained a copy of the message. “I don’t want to go to jail,” she added. “Thanks for taking the time for me.”
That didn’t stop Wein from later offering to pay $5,000 to kill her husband.
But there’s a problem.
Guido Fanelli’s real name is Bob Innes, a California native who runs the website. Rent-A-Hitman’s “agent” never actually killed anyone. Instead, the site exists to defraud people who are looking for hired killers.
And Wein is now in prison – one of several Rent-A-Hitman “customers” who have been found guilty of using the website to solicit murder.
Website owner hands murder ‘client’ to police
What started as a website for an internet security business, happened to be turning into online bait for people looking to kill their enemies. Their service requests are routed to Innes, who turn over serious requests to law enforcement.
Innes, who lives in Fairfield, California, said he left red flags all over his site, hinting that it was a trap. For starters, the site openly suggests that it offers illegal services. Its fake testimonials include one from a woman who was “ready to socialize” after she caught her husband cheating with a babysitter.
And the site promises confidentiality under the “Hitman Information Privacy and Protection Act of 1964,” a nod to HIPAA, the Health Insurance Provision and Accountability Act of Real Life was adopted in 1996 and protects patients’ medical information.
But some people still prefer it, filling out online forms with their real names, contact information and details of the person they want to “deal with”.
Innes says more than 400 people have filled out service request forms on the site since it launched, including some who have expressed an interest in becoming snoopers and playboys. prank try to prank your friends. Of those, about 10% have become legal cases involving police, he said.
“I thought no one could be that stupid, and I was proven wrong,” said Innes, 54. “These people… whoever they are, they watch HIPAA, they think about privacy. So they feel compelled to leave their real information behind – name, address, where the intended target is. …”
He gave everyone 24 hours to cool off before he alerted the authorities
If a person fills out a form on its website and clearly seeks to kill someone, Innes will wait 24 hours before contacting the police.
“It’s like a respite, to get you back on your feet. I want to give people a chance to walk away,” he said. “After a day, I asked them two questions. Do you still require our services? Would you like to be connected to a field worker?”
If they say yes to both, Innes will connect them to a law enforcement agency in their area, which will take over communications with the suspect. Innes never discussed a fee – he delegated it to “field workers.”
“I was just playing matchmaking with the police,” he said. “I’d rather be the state’s witness than the state’s mastermind.”
“The most striking thing about this case was the stupidity of the suspect… in trying to hire a hitman from a website,” Peterson said.
The site’s first serious case involved a requested attack on 3 people
Innes said he never intended to trap the killers when he launched the site in 2005. He is trying to start an internet security business, focusing on web traffic and risk analysis. for small networks.
“” Hire “like hire us,” succeeds “in analytics and website traffic,” he said.
His internet security business was never successful, so he tried to sell the domain name. There wasn’t much interest from the buyer, so he forgot about it and let it lie dormant for years.
Then, one day in 2008, he checked the website’s inbox and was stunned.
“There are emails about ‘how much for a visit?’ ‘are you hiring a hit man?’,” Innes said. “Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond, so I closed my inbox and walked away for a few years.”
Two years later, another murder solicitation hit his mailbox.
“I got an email from a woman saying she needed three people murdered,” Innes said. “A few hours later, she sent a second email with the names and addresses of the people she wanted to kill.”
The woman told Innes that she was a British citizen living in Ontario, Canada, and that three people she wanted to kill had robbed her father’s inheritance.
Innes said he looked up some of the addresses she provided, and her information appeared to be checked.
“She wants to be even. She won’t stop at numbers,” he said. “I contacted a friend who is a sergeant and said, ‘I think this lady is serious, can we ask for a welfare check?” The friend notified the Canadian authorities. “
The woman was arrested and spent several months in prison for soliciting murder before being deported to the UK, Innes said.
“That was my first case. I said, ‘This $9.20 site just stopped three murders.” It was the turning point for the site,” Innes said.
So he turned the site into what he calls “excessive parody,” complete with fake HIPAA claims and offering special discount packages for groups and seniors.
“Rent-A-Hitman is safe, secure and available right here on the World Wide Web”, the site promises to be “your point and click solution”.
Another man tries to use the website to kidnap a child
Innes’ website also led to a conviction that a Virginia man tried to hire someone to kill his ex-girlfriend and her parents in 2018.
“Make sure you kill them and don’t kill the baby,” Fauber wrote in his online request for a killer, Innes said. Fauber also demanded that the abducted child, along with her birth certificate, be brought from her home in Staunton, according to Innes.
Court records show Fauber was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 for soliciting first-degree murder.
Although such cases are public on his website, Innes said he still receives requests online from people wanting to hire an assassin. Several contacts from abroad, asked if he could arrange a hit in a particular country.
He never advertised the site, so he thought people could find it through online searches. Innes said his website analysis showed it was viewed in 160 countries.
“It’s absolutely unsettling,” he said.
Innes said he is now trying to educate people about online dangers and is calling for tougher laws for people convicted of using the internet to commit violent crimes.
“This is a work in progress, but if there are any legislators, internet safety groups or anyone else who might want to assist in this project, that would be greatly appreciated,” he said. speak.
Meanwhile, he will continue to act as a matchmaker between the murderous clients and the police.
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