The FBI is warning Americans of a new email scam going around -- spammers claiming to be hired assassins.
FBI Press Release:
A new scam cropping up in e-mail boxes across the country is preying not on recipients' greed or good intentions, but on their fears. The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December, threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, who purports to be a hired assassin.
About 115 complaints have been filed with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) since the scam emerged, according to special agent John Hambrick, who heads IC3. He said the extortion scam does not appear to target anyone specifically and that IC3 has not received any reports of money loss or threats carried out.
"This is a hoax, so do yourself a favor and don’t respond," Hambrick said.
Yeah, no need to worry about that here.
Seems a little harsh to me -- and desperate. Spammers are working in a very competitive market, more than 80% of all email is spam. So you've really got to go that extra mile to get yours to stand out.
Tags: news | crime | FBI | technology | spam
