Since the beginning of January, Internet users from Jacksonville, Florida to Queensland, Australia have been finding threatening notes in their inboxes from senders claiming they were hired to kill the recipients. "Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life," a typical variant warns. "If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up."
That being the textbook definition of extortion, the threats are being investigated by the FBI. However, recipients needn't fear for their lives, officials say, because the threats aren't personal -- they're mass-mailed by the tens of thousands to random email addresses by con artists operating under pseudonyms such as "Don Vanuchi," "Don Bush," and "Don Killer."
Just the same, recipients should avoid responding to the messages, thereby opening the door to personal contact with the scammers and the possibility of escalating threats.
A similar round of mass-emailings, believed to have originated in Russia, occurred just over one year ago.
Read more about it:
• 'Hit Man' Scam Email - Netlore Archive
• Residents Targeted in Hit Man Scam - Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
• Ada County Reporting Death Threat Emails - KBCI-TV News (Idaho)
• Pay Money to Call Off Hit, Threatens New Scam Email - CBC News (Canada)
• Extortion Part of Email Scam - Intelligencer Journal (Pennsylvania)
• 'Hit Man' Scam Hits First Coast - First Coast News (Florida)
• Police Say Ignore Death Threat Email - EADT-24 News (England)
• Police Warn of Hit Man Email Scam - WDIV-TV News (Michigan)
• Alleged Hit Man's Email Asks 'Do You Want to Live or Die?' - WOAI-TV News (Texas)
That being the textbook definition of extortion, the threats are being investigated by the FBI. However, recipients needn't fear for their lives, officials say, because the threats aren't personal -- they're mass-mailed by the tens of thousands to random email addresses by con artists operating under pseudonyms such as "Don Vanuchi," "Don Bush," and "Don Killer."
Just the same, recipients should avoid responding to the messages, thereby opening the door to personal contact with the scammers and the possibility of escalating threats.
A similar round of mass-emailings, believed to have originated in Russia, occurred just over one year ago.
Read more about it:
• 'Hit Man' Scam Email - Netlore Archive
• Residents Targeted in Hit Man Scam - Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
• Ada County Reporting Death Threat Emails - KBCI-TV News (Idaho)
• Pay Money to Call Off Hit, Threatens New Scam Email - CBC News (Canada)
• Extortion Part of Email Scam - Intelligencer Journal (Pennsylvania)
• 'Hit Man' Scam Hits First Coast - First Coast News (Florida)
• Police Say Ignore Death Threat Email - EADT-24 News (England)
• Police Warn of Hit Man Email Scam - WDIV-TV News (Michigan)
• Alleged Hit Man's Email Asks 'Do You Want to Live or Die?' - WOAI-TV News (Texas)
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