Behind the Casefiles: “Mark and John”

Note: although it is a simple matter to discover the true identity of “John”, the internet being what it is, I’m not going to blatantly do so here, as there is an indefinite court order prohibiting naming either of the boys. This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes […]

The Little Texas Hit that Wasn’t

  The hack of dark web “murder-for-hire” outfit Besa Mafia, which I wrote about a couple of days ago. has provided a treasure trove of stories of people who are prepared to go to extreme measures to be rid of someone in their lives. Most never got further than the initial enquiries. A few parted […]

Conversation with a hitman (or not)

Today the owner of Silk Road announced the closure of its sister site, the weapons-dealing Armory.  The reason was not heat from law enforcement or negative press, it was simply that the site was not profitable and members complained that many listings were scams. There are dozens of black market sites selling all manner of […]

Messin’ with the scammers

Today my latest article appeared in The Age/SMH:  From Nigeria With Love. I did a fair bit of research for this, but one of the most fun things I’ve done is mess with the scammers who contact me wanting to buy a parachute I have for sale.  Not quite the legendary efforts carried out by […]