Scam contract killer email blackmails recipients

IT security firm Sophos is warning internet users about a new spam campaign purporting to come from a professional hitman, in an attempt to steal money. The emails claim that the recipient has been stalked by a hired assassin for ten days, but that the hitman is prepared to drop the contract if he is paid a total of $80,000. Upon receiving an initial advance payment of $20,000 the hitman claims that he will produce taped evidence of the contract to kill the email recipient.

According to Sophos, the emails, which start with a cheery greeting of “Good day” and can have a subject line of “Read this to be safe and a new life in this new year”, include the following warning:

‘Do not contact the police or F.B.I. or try to send a copy of this to them, because if you do i will know, and might be pushed to do what i have being paid to do, beside, this is the first time I turned out to be a betrayer in my job.’

Sophos experts note once a victim has been drawn into the scam, the fraudster is likely to make further requests for money or other private information that could then be used to commit identity theft.