By Patrick Yost
Editor

    It’s not the infamous Nigerian Letter Scam, says Sgt. Robert NeSmith, Investigations, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.
    But it’s close. And a lot scarier.
    The latest e-mail scam to hit Morgan County involves a threat of death by a fictitious hit man. This week two Morgan County residents reported to authorities that they received the emails.
    The body text of the e-mails warns the recipient that someone had taken a contract on the recipient. “Someone you call a friend wants you dead by all means, and this person have spent a lot of money in this venture,” it reads. It says that the sender has been stalking the recipient and they “sent my boys to track you down…”
    NeSmith said, most likely, the e-mail is a mass generated spam attempt at extortion. It is filled with grammatical errors and broken English.
    The sender says that if the recipient will send money, he will release recordings of discussions had with alleged client who ordered the hit. In one example the sender requests a total of $15,000. In another the e-mail is asking for $4,000.
    It also threatens death if the sender contacts police, which is exactly what Sgt. NeSmith says victims of the email should do, even though he said he does not feel any real threat exists.
    “At this point, no, but anytime your life is threatened, you should take it seriously.”
    “Everything in this email indicates it’s spam,” he said.
    One victim of the scam received the email from a deadlykillers60@gmail.com address. NeSmith said, as with other scams, he will begin tracking their progress through complaints. “I’d really like to have them, just to keep track of them,” he said. He said he is also initiating a national search of similar scams.