Most of us can say we’ve received email from scammers and spammers informing us of being a lottery winner in a foreign country or requesting help to move/retrieve money from a long lost friend or relative but now the cyber thieves are stooping to a new low – Hit Man Threats.
These death threats are intended to scare one into handing over large sums of money so that the hit man, who is the one that is sending you the email, will double cross the “close friend” who has put the death threat against your life.
The email will say in part, “Am very sorry my friend, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don’t comply . . . I don’t have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do as I have already been paid to do.”
It continued, “Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life, If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up.”
The FBI is aware of these types of emails with warnings of this scam dating to 2006 and first emails showing up in the US 6-8 months ago. These messages of fraud are coming from overseas with at least one traced to Eastern Europe.
While emails of death threats and extortion are nothing to be taken lightly we can take comfort in knowing that this is an FBI known scam. We can contact our local law enforcement to make them known the scam has reached our hometown community, and we can safely hit “delete.”
Have I done anything differently? Yes, I contacted my local law enforcement, and I told 8,000 of my closest Virtual Assistant friends at VANA (Virtual Assistant Network Association) the largest VA industry online about this type of scam so none of them will allow a scammer to conduct fraud. I’ve also posted on the Virtual Assistants Forum Board to several hundred more VAs. And now, those 8,000+ friends have the knowledge to tell each and every one of their clients, co-workers, family, and friends. The more knowledge we share about scammers and their practices the better prepared we are to combat these nuisance emails and the more empowered to just hit “delete.”
Most importantly, DO NOT RESPOND to these types of emails. The scammers are hoping to lure you to give them cash or give them personal data so they can steal your identity.
Be aware and be safe!