Today I got a death threat email message. This particular type of spam is not really new, but because they will be very scary for most people to get, many recipients will fall for them.
The address header and text of the message reads:
From: xxxxxx xxxxxx
To: [address removed]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 10:06 AM
Subject: BE CAREFUL
Hello What Ever You Call YourSelf
I am very sorry for you Xxxxxx, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don’t comply. As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don’t have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.
Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means, and the person have spent a lot of money on this, the person also came to us and told me that he wanted you dead and he provided us with your name ,picture and other necessary information’s we needed about you. So I sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation on you, and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is Important to you or not since their findings shows that you are innocent.
I called my client back and ask him of your email address which I didn’t tell him what I wanted to do with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now. As I am writing to you now my men are monitoring you and they are telling me everything about you.
Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? As someone has paid us to kill you. Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life, $15,000 is all you need to spend You will first of all pay $8,000 then I will send a tape to you which i recoeded every discusion i hade with the person who wanted you dead and as soon as you get the tape, you will pay the remaining $7,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up.
WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELLING ANYONE BECAUSE I WILL KNOW.REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL WANT YOU DEAD! I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, INCASE I NOTICE SOMETHING FUNNY.
DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7:PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND GIVE YOU THE TAPE OF MY DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU DEAD THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION. GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR REPLY
It has been shown (I need to dig out those studies) that these type of messages, that prey upon basic fear for personal and family safety, are effective and end up paying off for the criminals.
Many non-security folks I talk to read scam messages closely, and many (parents from my children’s schools, folks from the companies where I’ve worked, neighbors, etc.) spend quite a bit of time asking me questions about the legitimacy of the scams. I know many of these folks, many of whom are fans of such shows as “Criminal Minds” and other such programs showing how thugs stalk their victims, will read something like this and be very scared.
Don’t let your personnel, family or friends fall for this scam.
I forwarded my message to my local FBI coordinator so he can do any necessary investigation. Consider doing the same if you, or people you know, get these; the more of these messages law enforcement get, the more evidence they can have to pursue putting these criminals away.
Tags: awareness and training, death threat, FBI, Information Security, Infragard, IT compliance, policies and procedures, privacy, privacy policy, risk management, security awareness, security training, spam