Synopsis: Internet email scam
Details: This is a news release of the Kern County Sheriff's Department.
Please do not contact the Sheriff's Communications Center.

Date:     Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Time:     11:44:08 AM

Details:
Hit-Man E-Mails

The Kern County Sheriff's Office would like to warn the community of a new Internet fraud involving E-Mails that attempts to extort money from Internet users.

On 4-25-2008, an Inyokern resident reported he received an E-Mail from an unknown person who advised he had been hired to kill him. The E-Mail advised the only way to save himself was to send the subject $5,000.00. The E-Mail also warned the Inyokern resident not to contact law enforcement or his family would also be targeted.

These type of E-Mails are called hit man e-mails due to the shockingly grim method of attempting to extort money from unsuspecting Internet users. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National While Collar Crime Center) has been receiving complaints regarding hit man e-mails since November 2006. The hit man e-mails contains a message from an
anonymous person who claims to have been hired to kill the recipient. The e-mail explains that by paying the hit man a specified amount of money, the recipient can escape being murdered. Fraudsters (usually from another Country) prepare these e-mails for mass distribution, targeting potentially thousands of e-mail addresses. The Internet Crime Complaint Center has yet to receive a single report that links one of these
e-mails to an actual assault or murder attempt.

The National White Collar Crime Center reports. Perhaps the best way to fight e-mail based scams is to simply educate the public. Keeping informed of the latest scams on the Internet may enable people to recognize and report these scams instead of losing money in them.

If you feel you have been the victim of an e-mail scam, please contact Senior Deputy Michael Scott @ 384-5800 or your local law enforcement agency.