Email Phishing Scam - There`s a Killer on the Run and He`s after You!
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released an alert on a phishing scam making its way across the web, recently. The first batch of these emails, phishing for personal information, was sent last month. The emails set claim to be from a hit man and prompt its recipients to pay an extortion fee of several thousands of dollars or else they will be murdered. A new batch of emails has recently gone out continuing the hit man theme.
The new set of emails claims to be sent from the FBI offices in London. In these new emails that surfaced the recipients are informed that an individual has been recently arrested in relation to a number of murders in the US and UK. The email continues to say that during the capture of this "hit man", information about the email recipient was found in his possession, including information indicating that he is to be the next victim. The email prompts the recipient to quickly send personal information, including a phone number.
"Please note, providing any personal information in response to an unsolicited e-mail can compromise your identity and open you to identity theft." The FBI wrote in its alert adding that "Due to the threat of violence inherent in these extortion e-mails, if you receive an e-mail that contains personally identifiable information that might differentiate your e-mail from the general e-mail spam campaign, we encourage you to contact the police." In recent years, identity theft and phishing schemes have become a growing threat and therefore the FBI is attempting to better inform internet users of the risks thus minimizing the damage caused by criminal elements in their attempts to dupe innocent email users.
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