Criminal gangs are organizing underworld attacks, including bombings, assassinations and hit-and-run attacks, through a secret underworld app similar to the one used in the John Wick films.
The app, which came online in recent months, has been dubbed Airtasker for criminals: its members advertise a “job” that is then chosen by a contractor.
Designed by the underworld’s equivalent of “management,” the app bears a striking similarity to the one used in the popular Hollywood blockbuster John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves.
In John Wick, ‘hits’ are announced digitally to a network of assassins and payment is made to the successful hitman.
The new app was created to allow a select group of members to commission and pay for violent crimes anonymously, an Australian underworld source said. Age.
An underworld source has claimed Australian mafia bosses are using an app, similar to Airtasker, to commission and pay for violent crimes including murders, robberies, drive-by shootings and firebombing.
The source said the system was designed by the equivalent of the “administration” in the underworld and allows members to use an encrypted platform outside of Australia.
The name of the app remains a secret, and potential users of the app need verification from an existing member before being granted access.
App administrators assign new members a code name that keeps their identity secret and preserves the anonymity of the app and its users.
Jobs can be advertised by any member, but they are typically commissioned by high-ranking organized crime officials.
Jobs, which include firebombing, robberies, murders, shootouts, assaults, armed robberies, heists, supplying weapons and getaway cars, are accepted by other high-level players in charge of running gangs and gangs.
Specific details of a goal or schedule are not shared until the contractor has accepted the work.
Once accepted, the crime boss who posted the job and the contractor who accepted it move to an encrypted private chat platform where they discuss the details and negotiate payment.
The source explained that once terms have been discussed, the contractor assigns the “mission” to someone on his crew or outsources it to another criminal figure.
The gangster boss then pays the contractor a secure payment method, such as cryptocurrency, and a fee for the app operators is also included.
The app administrators know the real identities of the members, however, they do not know the details of the jobs posted due to the use of external encrypted chats.
Members are permanently banned if they violate the app’s terms of service, which includes failing to pay a contractor or complete a job.
The app bears a striking similarity to the one used in the popular Hollywood hit John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves.
The source added that Australian authorities were aware of the app, but were unsuccessful in their attempts to infiltrate its secure encryption.
The app’s design also limited the data that could be used if authorities could obtain a working version of the app and a password, since a job disappears within an hour of being posted and members are protected by codenames.
The app also has a built-in self-destruct function that activates if a code is not entered every 24 hours, the source told The Age.
The NSW Crime Commission’s annual report revealed that criminal groups used encrypted communications between 2022 and 2023 at an “unprecedented rate”.
“Organized violence is an increasingly professionalised industry, with an increasing range of service providers available to hire,” the report says.
“Information available to the commission indicates that Australian organized crime groups have invested in the development of bespoke encrypted messaging applications, both for internal use and for sale to other syndicates.”
