Two teenagers were arrested after seeing a live-streamed murder on the dark web after paying for Bitcoin
Two 17-year-old Italians were arrested for paying Bitcoin (BTC) to witness children being sexually abused, tortured and murdered during live broadcasts.
Local media Il Messaggero reported on July 15 that the deep-seated website the two browsed also allows users to pay extra to determine what kind of torture the child will be subjected to next. The Italian law enforcement agency explained:
“Users who can reach those obscure environments are allowed to participate in acts of sexual violence and torture against minors performed live by adults.”
Live torture on demand
The services provided by the website have different fees. Watching a pre-recorded video is much cheaper than watching a live broadcast, but in both cases, the watching ends in the death of the child. The article also provides another example, according to which, “for example, viewers can ask them to amputate a child’s arm or pour hot oil on the victim.” The law enforcement agency said:
“On-site requests do cost a lot of money and ensure that foreign organizations that perform these inhumane acts receive particularly high profits.”
The two individuals were searched as part of an ongoing investigation, which has so far involved 25 people-19 minors and 6 people over 18 years of age living in 13 Italian provinces. The operation was nicknamed “Delirio” (delirio in Italian) by local law enforcement agencies. It started in October and led to dozens of searches.
The two arrested were a man and a woman, and they exchanged details of what they called the “red room”. Men often share the grim details of live broadcasts with women.
The media found included self-made foot radiography videos by minors, videos of children under three years of age harassed by adults, and videos depicting violent behavior and often accompanied by Nazi semiotics.
It is not clear whether the website providing the service has been closed, but probably only some viewers were caught. The local law enforcement agency did not answer Cointelegraph’s inquiry.
The relationship between cryptography and cryptocurrency
The pseudonym of cryptocurrencies and the lack of government control over them make them suitable for criminals. Among these criminals, we can find political dissidents, whistleblowers and news reporters, as well as pedophiles, drug dealers and black hat hackers.
There have been many reports on the use of Bitcoin and other encrypted assets in child pornography transactions worldwide. For example, at the end of June, Spanish law enforcement dismantled a black-net child pornography circle that used cryptocurrency transactions to pay for content
