E-Mail scams reach sad new low “Someone you call a friend wants you dead by all means”
E-mail scams have taken a new and ominous tone.
“I am very sorry for you is (sic) a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don’t comply,” the e-mail begins. “Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means.”
It goes on to say the writer has been paid a great deal of money to kill you, and he has sent his “boys” to investigate you and prepare for your assassination. The e-mail address uses the name “Killersquad12.”
But - predictably - if you pay enough money, you’ll be allowed to live. The e-mail asks for $15,000 sent in two payments and warns the recipient to not contact police.
An area woman, who asked that her name not be used, recently received one such e-mail message.
“They haven’t mentioned me by name, or where I live, although when I first read it I didn’t think of that,” the victim said in an e-mail to the Grand Blanc News.
When she realized it was a ruse, she got mad and contacted the state police.
“I wouldn’t get overly concerned, and I wouldn’t respond back on it,” state police Detective Sgt. Gary Muir of the Metro North post said.
But he does encourage reporting it. Muir said he took the woman’s complaint, but the e-mails usually come from overseas, and local law enforcement can do little about them. The alleged offender technically could be charged with a felony in Michigan, but only if the e-mail recipient could locate the elusive sender. Many of the most widely known e-mail scams have been traced to computer servers in Africa and Britain.
One would think Internet users by now would be savvy enough to realize that offers to share a $1 million inheritance or to give a stranger thousands of dollars for cashing a money order are fake. But the Federal Trade Commission, the FBI and local police agencies say naive or desperate recipients fall for the scam again and again.
The FTC’s Web site recommends asking yourself two questions before replying to such an e-mail: Why would a perfect stranger choose to share his fortune with someone he doesn’t know, and why would you risk giving personal and business information - including Social Security and bank account numbers -to a total stranger?
The poor English language usage in the e-mails is another red flag.
The fraud-detecting Web site Snopes.com, reports “The Nigerian Scam has been emptying the pockets of victims for decades - first through letters, then with faxes and now via e-mail.”
“If you ignore it, eventually somebody quits trying to do that kind of thing,” Muir said.
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How low can you go