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We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand
fibers connect us with our fellow-men; and along those fibers, as
sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as
effects.
- Henry Melville
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Six essential qualities that
are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy,
wisdom, charity. - William Menninger
Online Extortion Scam: E-Mail Scam Includes Hit-Man Threat
7/10/07
The Mobile office of the FBI wants to advise
the public of an online extortion scam in which the e-mail recipients are
threatened with death by a hit-man. This scam began last December, however,
local residents are now receiving these e-mails.
As recently as July 5, 2007, a Mobile
resident received an e-mail message which stated that the sender had been hired
to "terminate" the recipient, however for $8000 the individual will not carry
through on the termination. The e-mail also indicates that they have been
following or watching the victim. They are also provided instructions not to
notify law enforcement or family members, because the employer of the hit-man
may be a family member of friend of the victim.
To date over 500 complaints have been filed with the FBI's International Crime
Complaint Center (IC3) since this scam emerged. The FBI advises this is a scam
and recipients should not respond to these e-mails. Replying sends a signal to
the sender that they have reached a live account, and it can also escalate the
intimidation. The underlying message in these scams is to pay the sender or
risk the alternative.
And there is a twist to this scam, other
e-mails are being sent which state that an individual was recently arrested for
the murders of several United States and United Kingdom citizens in relation to
this matter. That e-mail goes on to state the recipient's information was found
on the subject identifying the recipient as the next victim, and the recipient
is asked to reply in order to assist in the investigation.
The message from the FBI is that recipients
of these e-mails should delete them, do NOT respond, and to file a complaint
through the IC3.gov website. Due to
the threat of violence in these extortion e-mails, if an individual receives an
e-mail that contains personal information that might differentiate their e-mail
from the general e-mail spam campaign, the recipient should contact the FBI
immediately at 251-438-3674.
