Sheriff offers warning on e-mail threat hoax
Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A frightening national e-mail scam has surfaced in Lancaster County, local authorities say.
Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said Wednesday that a 55-year-old Bennet woman found a death threat in her e-mail inbox Monday.
The e-mail from "killerofsoul1111" said, in part:
"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 you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.
"Someone you call a friend wants you Dead."
The e-mail told the woman to pay $8,000 to the e-mail sender for a tape of the conversation between the sender and the woman's "friend." For $7,000 more, the e-mail said, the sender wouldn't kill the woman.
The woman knew it was a scam, so she called authorities.
Wagner, who would not name the woman, said Wednesday that no other reports had surfaced in his county jurisdiction but that he'd learned of other incidents.
Lincoln police said the e-mails had shown up there as well.
The current Nebraska version of the scam echoes one that has popped up elsewhere in the country over the past two years.
Last month a Girard, Ohio, nurse reported one of the frightening messages, which local police said had been traced to Brazil.
In October, a New Jersey man got an e-mail that began menacingly:
"I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer."
In January last year, dentists, doctors, lawyers and other professionals in the Pittsburgh area were targeted by the "hit man," who was asking for far more money then.
Most of the recipients were told the contract amount was $50,000. And they were told that if they sent more money -- $80,000 to $150,000 -- they would be spared.
An FBI spokesman said the FBI became aware of the scam when people in Atlanta and New Orleans received similar e-mails in early December 2006.
Some of the recipients were startled when they read personal information about them in the e-mails. But the FBI said such information is widely available from online databases.
The FBI said it believes that scam originated in Russia.
A recipient shouldn't reply to the e-mail, the FBI said, because that would show the sender/scammer that a live account was reached. Just delete the e-mail unopened is the general FBI advice.
The FBI also suggested reporting the scam to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which it co-sponsors with National White Collar Crime Center.
On the Net:
FBI site on e-mail scams: http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm
Internet Crime Complaint Center: http://www.ic3.gov.
Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said Wednesday that a 55-year-old Bennet woman found a death threat in her e-mail inbox Monday.
The e-mail from "killerofsoul1111" said, in part:
"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 you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.
"Someone you call a friend wants you Dead."
The e-mail told the woman to pay $8,000 to the e-mail sender for a tape of the conversation between the sender and the woman's "friend." For $7,000 more, the e-mail said, the sender wouldn't kill the woman.
The woman knew it was a scam, so she called authorities.
Wagner, who would not name the woman, said Wednesday that no other reports had surfaced in his county jurisdiction but that he'd learned of other incidents.
Lincoln police said the e-mails had shown up there as well.
The current Nebraska version of the scam echoes one that has popped up elsewhere in the country over the past two years.
Last month a Girard, Ohio, nurse reported one of the frightening messages, which local police said had been traced to Brazil.
In October, a New Jersey man got an e-mail that began menacingly:
"I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer."
In January last year, dentists, doctors, lawyers and other professionals in the Pittsburgh area were targeted by the "hit man," who was asking for far more money then.
Most of the recipients were told the contract amount was $50,000. And they were told that if they sent more money -- $80,000 to $150,000 -- they would be spared.
An FBI spokesman said the FBI became aware of the scam when people in Atlanta and New Orleans received similar e-mails in early December 2006.
Some of the recipients were startled when they read personal information about them in the e-mails. But the FBI said such information is widely available from online databases.
The FBI said it believes that scam originated in Russia.
A recipient shouldn't reply to the e-mail, the FBI said, because that would show the sender/scammer that a live account was reached. Just delete the e-mail unopened is the general FBI advice.
The FBI also suggested reporting the scam to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which it co-sponsors with National White Collar Crime Center.
On the Net:
FBI site on e-mail scams: http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm
Internet Crime Complaint Center: http://www.ic3.gov.
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