RentAHitman a hit with wrong target audience

Upon reflection, perhaps “RentAHitman.com” wasn’t the best choice for a domain name.

While it may sound like an invitation to a homicide, this is in fact the name of an IT help website. Bob Innes of Novato, California, registered the domain name in 2005 with the tagline, “Your Point & Click Solution!”

“Rent” in this case suggests hire, “hit” refers to clicks, while “man” implied the team behind the site. However, Mr. Innes said the domain email received numerous nefarious inquiries from people looking to hire actual assassins.

He said he's handed over about two dozen potential murder-for-hire cases over to the long arm of the law in a 10-year period.

Mr. Innes suspects he's received more than 800 emails since 2005, including several requests seeking the assassination of the president of Indonesia. There was also the British woman in Canada looking for someone to bump off her mother, aunt and uncle in the Cotswolds.

The request was passed on to the proper authorities and the woman pleaded guilty to soliciting to commit murder. She spent 126 days in custody before she was extradited to the United Kingdom, where family get-togethers are likely to be a bit awkward.

The website features an inquiry request form the announces company's compliance with HIPPA: the “Hitman Information Privacy & Protection Act of 1964,” a nonexistent act and a wink at the United States’ health care privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA. Potential clients are asked to fill out one form per victim.

The requests can get rather grisly, Mr. Innes said, with at one wannabe client asking to have a victim’s heart removed and put on ice.

Mr. Innes said law enforcement agencies have not shown interest in his offer to take over the domain. The website, which is still up, is getting one to two inquires a week, which should probably make the president of Indonesia a little nervous.