Email scam claims recipient's life is threatened

Phishing campaign claims you're on a hit list

15 January 2007 9:52 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The FBI is warning of a new phishing scam that claims a suspected murderer has recently been arrested, and that the email recipient was next on the hit list.

The FBI's site calls this a “twist” on a previous scam email that was sent out saying that a contract killer was out to get the email recipient, but that if the recipient pays enough money, the contract on his or her life would be cancelled.

The new emails claim to be from the FBI in London, and request that the recipient contact the FBI in London to assist with the investigation of the person arrested for several murders.

The security warning from the FBI says that there might still be more variations on this theme that may still appear.

It also says not to provide personal information to unsolicited email, but that if the email contains “personally identifiable information that might differentiate your email from the general email spam campaign”, you should contact the police.

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