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Spam Outbreak Purportedly from Hitman Re-emerges

Police in Estonia (North Europe) warn that spam mails, wherein their senders claim they've been hired to kill the recipients, while demanding money to hand over audio tapes that supposedly would reveal those behind the assassination scheme, are currently circulating. Err.ee reported this on March 4, 2011.

States Estonia Police, the e-mail sender writes that he'll suggest the recipient pay USD 7,500 through courier instantly so that he can be sent the tape discussing the individual wishing him dead. The deadline for the payment is 3-days from the time the e-mail shall be received, the writer adds. Err.ee reported this.

Moreover, the e-mail warns that the recipient mustn't inform the police alternatively anybody else since the contract killer will get to know about it. Thereafter, it reiterates that the person wanting the recipient dead knows him closely and that his family will be told if anything funny becomes noticeable.

State officials, the hitman fraud, which so frightens victims that they agree to pay up huge sums of money, is one more case of the Nigerian e-mail scam. In fact, police has tracked a particular spammer as operating from the 41.203.64.251 Nigerian IP address.

Meanwhile, security researchers state that scams of similar type happened during 2006 when the electronic mails emanated from Moscow, depicting grammatical errors, which suggested that their writers were non-English speaking individuals. Those messages reached e-mail ids seemingly culled from expertly-comprised lists, meaning that the threat e-mails targeted that section of people which presumably were equipped with the wherewithal for fulfilling an extortionist's demand.

Further, during July 2008, the threat message emerged in dual versions. One, which provided a phone-number, stated that the recipient must call at it, while the other stated that someone dear or the recipient himself would be kidnapped except if he paid a ransom. The e-mails even contained the recipients' own recognizable details only for suggesting that the writer was familiar with the individuals.

Hence, it's advisable that anyone getting such e-mails should ignore the messages, as the e-mails, alongside looting one's money, may get that person towards divulging personal information, thereby facilitating the perpetrators to commit ID-theft.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 3/15/2011

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