Rent a HITMAN? How a Parody Website Catches REAL Criminals episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 10, 2024 · 59 MIN

Rent a HITMAN? How a Parody Website Catches REAL Criminals

from Things I Learned Last Night · host Jaron Myers and Tim Stone

Ever heard of Rent a Hitman or rentahitman.com? At first glance, it sounds like a shady, illegal website straight out of a crime drama. But what if I told you it's actually a bizarre mix of satire, internet history, and law enforcement brilliance? Rentahitman.com began in 2005 as a legitimate IT services site founded by a man named Bob Ines. The clever name was a play on words: “hit” referred to website hits, not assassinations. Bob's goal was to use his IT skills to provide online security audits. However, the site didn’t take off as planned, and it was left dormant for years. But Bob made one crucial mistake—or stroke of genius: he forgot to take the site down. Years later, he checked the website's email account and found over 700 inquiries—not for IT services, but for actual hitmen. People were requesting assassinations through a website they genuinely believed was a real hitman service. Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode today! Become a Patron and Get Early Access to Ad-Free Episodes: https://tilln.com/support Episode link: https://tilln.com/rentahitman Support TILLN & Join The Mailing List: https://linktr.ee/tillnpodcast Watch Lake City Quiet Pills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VquraIdeokI&t=9s&ab_channel=ThingsILearnedLastNight Text TILLN to 66866 to become a patron and gain access to ad-free episodes, the exclusive discord, and earn discounts on TILLN Merch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Dec 10, 2024

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Rent a HITMAN? How a Parody Website Catches REAL Criminals

0:00 59:00

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Things I Learned Last Night?

This episode is 59 minutes long.

When was this Things I Learned Last Night episode published?

This episode was published on December 10, 2024.

Can I download this Things I Learned Last Night episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!