Woman accused of using bitcoin worth more than $7,000 to hire hit man over dark web

A woman has been accused of browsing murder-for-hire sites on the dark web to try and arrange the murder of a man.

A Wisconsin woman has been accused of paying the administrator of a dark-web site in bitcoin to kill a man.

Kelly Harper, 37, of Columbus was charged Monday with using the internet to hire someone to commit murder, the Milwaukee Journal Sentine l reported.

Ms Harper browsed murder-for-hire sites on the dark web to try to arrange the murder of an unidentified Sun Prairie man, according to a criminal complaint.

She allegedly gave the administrator of one site a photo of her intended target and his car in December.

The administrator then asked for proof of payment, to which Ms Harper responded by sharing a screenshot of a bitcoin wallet worth about $US5,633 ($A7,277), authorities said.

Police said they received a call on January 12 about a suspicious person at the man’s home.

They arrived to find the man in the middle of an interview with three journalists, who had been researching the dark web and uncovered a plot to kill him.

The man’s girlfriend then filed a report with the FBI the following day, according to the criminal complaint.

When FBI agents searched Ms Harper’s home, they discovered screenshots of the murder-for-hire site on her computer as well as an image that she sent to the site administrator, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Ms Harper allegedly admitted to agents that she had paid in bitcoin to have the man killed.

She was taken into custody in Dane County Jail, the outlet reported.

If convicted of the charge, she faces up to 10 years in prison, the newspaper reported.

This story was originally published on the New York Post and is republished here with permission