Rent-A-Hitman? Woman Faces Jail Time For Using Fake Website

A Michigan woman faces up to nine years in prison after a vengeful request through a website came back to bite her.

Wendy Wein was tired of her ex-husband and wanted him gone, so she did what she had seen go down in numerous movies ― hire an assassin. However, her approach to finding a killer is what exposed her.

According to WishTV, Wein stumbled upon a website, Rent-A-Hitman, in July 2020 and decided to employ their services in getting rid of her ex-husband.

Despite seeing numerous red flags on the website, including phony testimonials and a PSA about doing illegal activities, Wein still went ahead to consult with them.

She rightfully suspected that the website was a scam when she wrote to the site's supposed chief consultant, "This is kind of weird that your company is not on the deep or dark web. I prefer not going to jail. Thanks for your time."

However, that was not enough to deter Wein from pursuing her intent. She ended up paying $5,000 and filled a form online, dropping all the accurate details about herself and her ex-husband, who lived in a different state.

Luckily, Wein was apprehended by the authorities and charged for solicitation for murder and using a computer to commit a crime. Even at the point of her arrest, Wein believed that the state trooper sent to arrest her was the hitman and gave him an extra $200 as a downpayment for travel expenses.

She pled guilty to the charges and faces a long time in jail once her sentencing occurs in January.

So, how was Wein caught by the authorities? It turns out Wein was reported to the police by the site's owner Bob Innes. Rent-A-Hitman poses as a middleman website that helps connect people looking for a hitman to the appropriate authorities.

Since launching the website, Innes has helped the police track down persons who are serious about soliciting for murder. According to him, out of the 400 people who have filled out forms, about 10% of them have serious intentions to have someone killed, and they are turned over to the police.

Through his site, Innes has aided in arresting a British woman living in Canada who wanted three people dead after stealing her father's inheritance. There was also a 2018 case of a Virginia man who tried to kill his ex-girlfriend and her parents with the help of the website.

Despite the several victory cases, Innes remains shocked that people believe his website should be taken seriously. He employs the use of "over-the-top-parody" to send a clear message, but people still fall for his gimmicks.

For example, the website swears that its users are protected under the HIPAA 1964 Act, which stands for Hitman Information Privacy & Protection Act of 1964. Inness also gives his clients 24 hours to take back their requests before alerting the authorities.

When Innes bought the domain and launched the website in 2005, he was trying to start an internet security business to help with risk analysis and web traffic for small businesses.

The unique name Rent-A-Hitman meant, "Rent' as in hire us, 'hit man' as in website traffic and analytics." However, the business never came to fruition, and he had no luck selling the domain name.

After years of leaving the website dormant, he opened the site's inbox on one fateful day in 2008 and saw messages asking for a hitman's services. At first, he ignored the messages, but when he received more emails two years later, he decided to make it his life's purpose to act as a matchmaker between the police and prospective murderers.