Hit Man Email Scammer Back With a Vengeance

coondoggie writes "The online Hitman scammer, who threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, is still sending out thousands of emails and the FBI is again today warning users to ignore the spam and report any incidents to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Two new versions of the scheme began appearing in July 2008, the FBI said. One instructed the recipient to contact a telephone number contained in the e-mail and the other claimed the recipient or a 'loved one' was going to be kidnapped unless a ransom was paid."

Rich folks only

[Anonymous Coward]

According to About.com: [about.com]

It is known so far that the messages are originating from Moscow, Russia (note the fractured grammar, indicating they were written by non-English speakers) and are being emailed to addresses apparently selected from professional databases (i.e., targeting recipients who presumably have the resources to pay an extortionist).

I wouldn't expect to receive one of these unless you're wealthy and there's material out on the net attesting to the fact.

Re:Is that a threat?

[gstoddart]

I thought it was standard procedure to first kidnap and then request a ransom. Why would people pay a ransom -provided they feel really threatened by the email - if noone is kidnapped yet? They can always pay ransom when the kidnapping is actually done?

For the same reason that people fall for all kinds of scams and other stupid stuff on the internet that they might not fall for in real life -- some subset of the recipients actually believe it is real.

If you send enough, it only takes an exceedingly small percentage of people to respond to any attempt to get cash and it probably works. Same for "p3n1s 3nl4rgm3nt", Nigerian scams, or phishing.

In this case, people might actually believe (as much as you and I can't see how) that someone they know might be in real peril of getting kidnapped. Yup, it's naive, but we know people believe all sorts of things.

However, in this case, I should think that sending such threats over email is probably a federal crime, and the people doing this are going to be hosed if they get caught. I'm sure it's probably at least 2-3 felonies to do such a thing.

Cheers

Re:Why is it a 'scam'?

[Urkki]

This is just a mass-mailed request to receive money, hoping to get some suckers to send some. Whatever the reason given for sending money, it's a scam. Just 'cos the reason given by this scam is a threat of violence, it doesn't stop it from being a scam, it just makes it also extortion.