Italian man ‘offered €10,000 in Bitcoin’ to maim ex-partner

Investigators in Rome have placed under house arrest a person who they say paid an attacker over the dark web to maim his ex-girlfriend.

The suspect is accused of offering €10,000 (£8,700; $12,000) in Bitcoin inturn for the attack, which will have paralysed the lady, police said.

He was traced by Italian authorities and darkode market the EU’s crime agency and the girl was unharmed.

The would-be attacker has not been identified.

What is the person accused of?
“It looks such as the plot of a contemporary thriller,” Italy’s Postal and Communication Police said in a statement.

The suspect, a 40-year-old IT expert from the northern region of Lombardy, is purported to have gone on the dark web some months after his relationship broke down in July 2020.

Police said he contacted an intermediary using a website on the dark web , seeking to hire an attacker to throw acid at his ex-girlfriend’s face and to break her back, leaving her paralysed.

Despite having made the first of four payments to the would-be attacker, the suspect remained touching his intended victim, sending her flowers and messages, based on police.

Italian news agency Adnkronos quoted the arrest warrant as saying that the attack was to be staged to appear just like a robbery.

The suspect, who had been in a two-year relationship with the girl, had handed down her home address and Facebook profile, the news headlines agency added.

How was he traced?
Italian authorities said they certainly were alerted after messages from the suspect were intercepted by police from another European country in February.

The request have been placed through the Tor network – privacy-focused software used to get into the dark web while often obscuring users and data.

However, EU crime agency Europol said it was able to carry out “an urgent, complex crypto-analysis allow the tracing and identification” of the Bitcoin provider, located in Italy.

Italian police were then able to have hold of further details about the suspect from the crypto-currency provider.

The suspect’s home in Milan was searched by the end of February, based on Italian media, and whilst the search unfolded he is then said to have called off the attack via his computer.

He is currently under house arrest, faced with aggravated harassment and attempted personal injury, reports say.