According to crypto sources, a Tennessee woman has been convicted and sentenced to over eight years in federal prison after she tried to contract a hitman using bitcoin murder. 39 years old Melody Sasser from Knoxville was convicted for ordering an Alabama woman’s murder in exchange for nearly $10,000 in cryptocurrency.
This was a plot to carry out a Bitcoin murder using the services of a hitman advertised on the dark web; before the crime could be committed, she was arrested, tried, convicted, and subsequently jailed. In a statement by the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Sasser had planned the crime to the detail and wanted the murder to be passed off as an accident.
Failed Bitcoin Murder Plot Uncovered by Authorities
Homeland Security thus arrested Melody Sasser following a thorough investigation, which revealed her engagement with the dark web. The allegedly condensed court papers showed that Sasser had visited a site known as the “Online Killers Market,” a website that was known to specialize in providing various unlawful services, such as assassination.
However, through the site, Sasser posted numerous details about the chosen victim, including photos and places to find her. She also pointed out that it should appear as though the woman was killed randomly or looked like an accident. For this operation, Sasser invested approximately $10,000 in bitcoins for the hitman.
Pretending to be one of the website’s workers, Sasser had contacted the website, and the authorities found a journal where she had written her interactions. Investigators also identified links to other websites offering contract killing services and a bitcoin address embedded among piles of money. These pieces of evidence were crucial in connecting her to the crime.
“Using cryptocurrency in a plot of this nature does not guarantee anonymity,” said an HSI spokesperson. “Criminals often believe the dark web offers them complete security, but as this case shows, law enforcement has developed the tools necessary to trace even these transactions.”
The Role of Cryptocurrency in Criminal Enterprises
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The foiled assassination plot is another sign that criminals are using cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, more and more for this vice. Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic currency that provides users with anonymity, providing an opportunity to attract the Dark Web. However, this case also shows that cryptocurrency transactions are easily traceable when authorities use technologies such as forensic tools. Cryptocurrency scams have been in the crosshairs of Homeland Security Investigations, commonly known as HSI.
“People believe cryptocurrency transactions are untraceable, but this is a myth,” continued the spokesperson. Similarly, in Sasser’s case, using Bitcoin murder plot formed the main basis for her conviction. Blockchain records also showed that Sasser had indeed made the payments, and authorities were able to trace the transactions using blockchain records.
Bitcoin Murder: Sentencing and Legal Consequences
Supreme Court: the verdict was passed on Friday, September 20, in a federal court in the case of Sasser. Customarily, she was to receive 100 months imprisonment, which will be approximately eight years and a few months, for having played a part in the Bitcoin murder-for-hire plan. After serving the prison term, Sasser will also have to spend three years in supervised release.
The court also ruled that Sasser should be made to forfeit the sum of $5000 to her intended victim. It has been reserved to the discretion of the Public Relations department to conceal the name of the victim.
An important piece of this evidence, which helped to bring about Sasser’s conviction, was documents found during the search of her home that connected her to the dark web directly. Thus, the connection of this evidence to the Bitcoin transaction records presented concrete evidence that Sasser was the mastermind of the plan.
“For this case, it showed that it’s people of today are using technology to aid them in the commission of the crime, but they are not immune to the hand of the law,” the presiding judge said when passing the judgment.
Major Takeaway on Bitcoin Murder Plot
Melody Sasser’s case exemplifies how there are rising challenges faced by the law in this digital age. In this case, while revelation also shows that cryptocurrency provides some benefits to users who want to maintain anonymity, this proves that even the Bitcoin transactions are not left out by the law enforcement team. This 48-year-old woman from Knoxville will take nearly nine years to learn that employing technology for self-gain can be an extremely expensive lesson. Keep following TheBITJournal and keep yourself informed about the latest crypto scams.
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