‘Violence for hire’: Trend emerging on dark web

I spoke with NewsNation’s Dray Clark about 'violence-as-a-service,’ an emerging trend on apps like Telegram and Discord.

Violence-for-hire a new threat online

“If you’re targeted, it’s pretty hard to hide,” said Dan Patterson, the editorial director at Cybersixgill, a cyberintelligence company that monitors threats online.

Using apps such as Discord and Telegram, Patterson showed NewsNation how easy it is to find someone who is ready to attack on demand.

A search for someone willing to throw bricks into homes delivered near-instantaneous results.

“We’re not talking hours, we’re talking minutes — we’re talking seconds,” said Patterson.

Payment amounts vary but in some cases can go as high as $3,000 to $5,000.

“It’s not just pocket change,” said Patterson. “But as the activities scale up and this becomes more common, the price goes down.”