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The Hitman Spam Scam

by Tim Stevens on June 22, 2007 at 10:44 AM

The Hitman Spam ScamThankfully, most of the spam we receive is at worst insulting, making various (and wholly inaccurate) claims about the size of certain body parts. However, according to the FBI, hundreds of people are receiving something rather more threatening in their inboxes: spam that claims the recipients will be killed if they don't pay off the sender.

Frightening to be sure, but like most spam missives these seem to be random in nature, sent in hope of finding someone who'll pay up. However, a few messages have included disturbing details like family member names and work addresses, meaning someone is going through a bit of trouble to make these sound legit.

Should you receive one of these messages, chances are it's totally bogus and you needn't fear that someone has a contract on your head. But, just to be safe, make sure you report any such messages to the proper authorities.

From Shiny Shiny

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Tags: Hitman, scams, Spam

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