Romania probes two suspects over alleged hitman-for-hire website

Two Romanian nationals are under investigation after authorities uncovered a website suspected of allowing users to hire contract killers, according to local law enforcement.

Earlier this month, Romanian police carried out three searches in Bucharest and the central city of Ramnicu Valcea at the request of British authorities, prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. Investigators believe the suspects were operating an online platform that allowed users to hire assassins through a marketplace designed to conceal both identities and financial transactions.

Authorities said the platform relied exclusively on cryptocurrency payments and held users’ funds within the site until transactions were completed. The setup was intended to preserve anonymity while making money flows difficult to trace.

During the searches, investigators seized multiple electronic storage devices, cryptocurrency worth about $650,000, as well as nearly 293,000 lei ($68,000) and 48,600 euros ($58,000) in cash.

Two Romanian citizens were questioned as suspects, though officials have not disclosed further details about their identities or specific roles. Potential charges include forming an organized criminal group, incitement to murder, attempted murder, incitement to bodily harm, attempted bodily harm and money laundering.

So-called “hitman-for-hire” websites have frequently appeared on the dark web, though law enforcement agencies say many ultimately turn out to be scams. In 2024, U.S. authorities charged a woman who believed she had used a dark-web site to arrange the murder of her lover’s wife, only to later discover that the site was fraudulent and that no assassin existed.

In another case, Italian police arrested a man in 2021 on suspicion of attempting to hire a hitman through a website hosted on the Tor network, allegedly paying around 10,000 euros in bitcoin to target his former girlfriend.