Hitman Scam E-mail makes place in U-M Inboxes

University of Michigan Department of Public Safety has alerted its faculty, students and staff about the 'hit man threat' scam that is making place in the U-M mailboxes.

The police of the University issued a security bulletin across the campus on August 13, 2007 about the new hit man scam. Two employees of the U-M reported that they found a message in their inboxes that threatened to kill the recipient if they failed to pay thousands of dollars to the e-mail's sender who describes himself as a hired killer.

While the e-mail is frightening, it is also different as it imposes a feeling of personal attack against the recipient. The University wanted everyone to know that it was a spoof message, said Diane Brown, spokeswoman for the U-M police. Mlive published this in news on August 13, 2007.

The e-mail reaching the University employees threatened the recipient to be ready to advance a payment of $20K following which the sender would provide the account where the recipient would have to swift the money. After this, he would arrange a meeting with the recipient to give him/her information as proof of the person who would assassinate the recipient.

The message sounded frightening because first somebody forcefully wanted the reader's money and then it mentioned about killing people, said U-M graduate Renee Pitter. Clickondetroit published this in news on August 13, 2007.

The campus authorities and federal officers wanted to relate to the University people that the threats are just part of a financial scam that took advantage of people's fears instead of using recipients' altruism or greed as in conventional e-mail scams.

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it has received hundreds of complaints from all over the Untied States since the first appearance of the scam in December 2006. The FBI has alerted the public that the e-mails are hoaxes, which they should delete right away and not respond to. Responding to such e-mails would suggest the sender that there is an active e-mail address where they can increase the threats and make a sounder ground for extortion.

Related article: Hitman Spreading Fear Through New Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 8/27/2007