HITMAN SCAM

Death is scary! For everyone on the planet, death seems to be tough reality that no one wants to face. The very thought of death creates uneasiness, tension and turmoil in the minds of individuals. There are a group of fraudsters out there who take advantage of the weakness (about death) found in common man, in order to execute their criminal strategy to make some money. There are newer strategies and techniques that are adopted by scammers that make it highly difficult for a layman to guess the possibilities of a scam. Scammers have found another new strategy to get out money from innocent individuals. In this new strategy, the scammer plays the life and death game with the victim. The scammer poses himself as a 'Hitman' hired by someone and threatens the victim to kill him/her, unless they victim agrees to pay a handsome sum of money to the scammer.

The "hitman scam" is a type of online extortion where individuals receive threatening messages, typically via email or social media, claiming that a contract killer has been hired to harm or kill them. These messages aim to create fear and panic, asserting that the only way to avoid harm is to pay a specified amount of money to the sender. The scammers often demand payment in cryptocurrencies to make it harder to trace. It's important to note that these threats are entirely false, and the scammers have no real intention or capability to carry out any harm. The goal of the hitman scam is to exploit fear and coerce victims into making payments. If individuals receive such threats, it is crucial to remain calm, not respond to the messages, and report the incident to local law enforcement.

Popularly known as the 'Hitman scam' this criminal strategy was first tried out by scammers in the early 2007. In order to give way to this fraudulent plan, the scammer sends out an email to the victim, where the scammer claims himself to be a Hitman, hired by some family, friend or relative of the victim to kill the victim. The scammer also mentions that he will spare the victim if and only if the victim agrees to pay the amount mentioned in the mail to the Hitman (scammer). This is a criminal strategy adopted by scammers where the scammer thinks that the victim will get scared and agree to pay the amount to the scammer. There have been many cases where the scammer has become successful in this fraudulent activities and strategies.

      The scammer tries to play with the emotions and feelings of the victim, by mentioning that a near and dear one wants to get the victim killed. The very mention of death creates havoc in the minds of the victims and hence the possibility of considering the mail to be from a fake source becomes very less from the victims point of view. The scammer takes advantage of fear and confusion that develops in the minds of the victims while the victim reads the mail. The scammer mentions genuine and realistic points like 'I am monitoring you all the time', or 'All your activities are monitored by me all the time', creates a sense of fear in the victims mind. For once the victim might think that the mail will be from a fake source, but these Hitman scammers are so professional in mail writing skills, that the mail script by itself looks genuine and legitimate. Hitman scammers often ask the individuals not to inform anyone around them about this, as this will disrupt the entire sequence. The scammer speaks to the victim in a way, to be giving a chance to the victim to spare his life by paying the amount of money mentioned by the scammer.

      These scammers send out such type of emails to bulk email addresses, not knowing which ones are legitimate and which ones are not. These Hitman scammers create a fake email ID which they use to send out these Hitman scam emails to the inboxes of many. Based on the reply that they receive, they try to speak to the individuals and make them pay some money. With passing of days, as and when the scammer's strategies started getting successful, the scammers evolved in the methods of approaching the victims. Text messages and SMSs were sent out to the direct phone numbers of the victims. Hitman scammers manage to get mobile numbers of victims from lead selling companies and directly send out the message. When the victim receives a text message, the scenario appears to be more legitimate to the victim as the victim has received the message on the personal mobile number, which is almost impossible to get. When the scammer sends out the message, the ultimate of the Hitman scammer is to establish a direct and personal connection that makes the victim believe that the message is not from a fake source. Again, these Hitman scammers send out SMS messages from newly bought fake numbers that are not easy to track.

The "hitman scam" is a deceptive scheme where individuals receive threatening messages, often via email or online platforms, claiming that a contract killer has been hired to harm or kill them. These messages aim to instill fear and panic, asserting that the recipient's life is in imminent danger. The scammer then demands a specific sum of money to purportedly call off the hit and ensure the victim's safety. The threats are entirely fabricated, and the scammers have no real intent or capability to carry out any harm. The primary objective is to exploit fear and coerce victims into making payments. If targeted by such a scam, it's crucial to remain calm, avoid responding to the messages, report the incident to law enforcement, and preserve any evidence for further investigation. Awareness and caution are key to thwarting these types of online extortion attempts.

Victims might get shocked, panic and get scared upon receiving death threats from anyone, and the very thought of a death plan by ones close near and dear ones will shatter the victims self confidence. If any common man receives such a death threat, follow the below points in such cases -

? Police and other scam fighting authorities advise the victims to remain calm and re-read the email again and again. this way you will definitely find some clues that will help you identify about the Hitman
? In most of the cases it is highly advised to delete the email immediately. Most of the scammers are not even aware of they are sending emails to a genuine ID. Hence if you reply back, it might give a confirmation lead to the Hitman scammer.
? Just do not respond back to any such emails or text messages. If in doubt, immediately report the message or the email received to the nearest police station.
? Check the source of the email ID or the phone number in online scam checking websites, this will help you confirm about the identity of the Hitman scammer.
? 90% of such death related emails and messages are reported to be Hitman scammers, hence you can with confidence delete the mail / message and sleep in peace.
? If you are really curious to get to the root of the Hitman scammer, then you can continue to reply back and get the Hitman caught to the police.

We are providing the Spam Checker Tool for your convenience. Here you can enter the email or the contact number that you suspect to be a scam. This tool checks it with our spam database list and ensure you regarding the email or the phone number is real one or the bogus.

Report scam to United States government-you could file a complaint about scam or other crime here.

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