The online Hitman scammer who threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, is back and the FBI is warning users to ignore the spam and report any incidents to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The FBI said it's receiving numerous complaints from users in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming The Hitman scam has also been reported in Washington, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan since January.
The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December 2006, purports to be a hired assassin, but is in reality a mass spamming looking to grab your personal information. Replying to the e-mails just sends a signal to senders that they’ve reached a live account. It also escalates the intimidation, the FBI said in a report last year.
In one case, a recipient responded that he wanted to be left alone and threatened to call authorities. The scammer, who was demanding an advance payment of $20,000, e-mailed back and reiterated the threat, this time with some personal details about the recipient—his work address, marital status, and daughter’s full name. Then an ultimatum:
“TELL ME NOW ARE YOU READY TO DO WHAT I SAID OR DO YOU WANT ME TO PROCEED WITH MY JOB? ANSWER YES/NO AND DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS!!!”
The IC3 last year noted a noted a twist in the scam: e-mails that claim to be from the FBI in London and inform recipients that an arrest was made in the case. The e-mail says the recipient’s information was found on the suspect and that they should reply to help further the investigation. This, too, is a scam, the FBI said.
The IC3 in January raised a red flag saying it has received multiple reports on different variations of a scheme known as voice phishing or vishing. Vishing attacks against US financial institutions and consumers continue to rise at an alarming rate and a new vishing technique is also growing, the IC3 stated. In the new scenario text messages are sent to cell phones claiming the recipient's on-line bank account has expired. The message instructs the recipient to renew their on-line bank account by using the link provided.
The FBI late last year issued a pair of alerts warning users to be on the lookout for a couple email scams making the rounds. The first is an oldie but a goodie. Fraudulent emails from the United States Department of State are being distributed claiming to have verified an inheritance from another country belonging to the victim. To make these emails appear legitimate, they contain information taken from the Department of State's website.
The second alert has a whiff of the old Nigerian email scam. This one comes from Amando M. Tetangco, the Governot of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, (Central Bank of the Philippines). The sender claims the recipient is the beneficiary of a large sum of money, free of any liens or encumbrances.
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The FBI is warning people
The FBI is warning people not to be disturbed by an e-mail scam that threatens your life and orders you to pay up to avoid being the target of a hired hit man.
The FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center continues to receive thousands of reports concerning the hit man e-mail scheme. The FBI notes that while the content of the missive has evolved since similar hit man scams first surfaced in late 2006, the message remains the same, claiming the sender has been hired to kill the recipient.
In some cases, the use of names, titles, addresses, and telephone numbers of government officials and business executives, and/or the victims' personal information are used in an attempt to make the fraud appear more authentic, the FBI said.
I've heard about these scams before, but never actually seen one of the e-mails until today. Below is a copy of one of the scams making the rounds now.
"Dear Friend,
Goodday to you.
Am very sorry for you my friend, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don't comply. As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don't have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL/ASSASINATE you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.
Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means, and the person have spent a lot of money on this, the person also came to us and told me that he want you dead and he provided us with your name, picture and other necessary information's we needed about you. So I sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation on you, and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is Important to you or not since their findings shows that you are innocent.
More of the hit man scam e-mail after the jump.
I called my client back and ask him of you email address which I didn't tell him what I wanted to do with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now. As I am writing to you now my men are monitoring you and they are telling me everything about you.
Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? As someone has paid us to kill you. 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.
WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I WILL KNOW. REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL WANT YOU DEAD! I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, IN CASE I NOTICE SOMETHING FUNNY.
DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7:30PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND GIVE YOU THE TAPE OF MY DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU DEAD AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLIED WITH MY DEMANDS, THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION. GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR REPLY
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