Death threat spam email spreading

Posted on July 30th, 2010 under Email Dangers

A woman in East Bay, California recently reported receiving a spam email that contained a death threat, relays KGO-TV, an ABC affiliate in San Francisco.

According to Deborah Szabo, she received the email while at work and it startled her greatly. "The heading says 'somebody you call friend, wants you dead.' It caught my attention right away," she told KGO-TV.

Reportedly, the message involves a hitman requesting money in exchange for the receiver's personal safety. The message includes references to various assassins currently tracking down the email recipient. By paying the email's sender a total of $8,000, the recipient can be saved.

According to one email security expert "anyone who receives this, I feel terrible for them. It must be terrifying to open this up and read. The frightening thing for anyone who falls for this, should they pay out what they are asking, it is a certainty that there will be additional death threats, bogus or otherwise, demanding even more money," the expert told KGO-TV.

Experts recommend users avoid such scam email abuse to ensure internet safety.

Unfortunately, real email threats do exist in the U.S. Several citizens have recently been arrested for emailing high-ranking officials in the country, such as President Barack Obama, with death threats.