New Twist Concerning Threat and Extortion E-Mails

There is a new twist to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Alert posted on December 7, 2006. The alert regarded e-mails claiming that the sender has been paid to kill the recipient and would cancel the contract on the recipient's life if the recipient pays a large sum of money. Now e-mails are surfacing which claim to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in London.

These threatening e-mails note the following information:

• An individual was recently arrested for the murders of several United States and United Kingdom citizens in relation to this matter.
• The recipient's information was found on the subject identifying the recipient as the next victim.
• The recipient is requested to contact the FBI in London to assist with the investigation.

It is not uncommon for an Internet fraud scheme to have the same overall intent but be transmitted containing variations in the e-mail content, e.g., different names, e-mail addresses, and/or agencies reportedly involved.

Please note, providing any personal information in response to an unsolicited e-mail can compromise your identity and open you to identity theft.

If you have experienced this situation please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint.

Due to the threat of violence inherent in these extortion e-mails, if an individual receives an e-mail that contains personally identifiable information that might differentiate their e-mail from the general e-mail spam campaign, the IC3 encourages the recipient of the e-mail to contact the police.