Cops: Threatening e-mails are an unsettling scam

Cops: Threatening e-mails are an unsettling scam
By Paul Crocetti
February 26th, 2008

MENDON - After a teacher at Clough Elementary School received an e-mail Monday that said the sender would kill her if she did not pay thousands of dollars, Detective David Kurczy said she did the right thing - she called police.

A second teacher at the school received a similar e-mail yesterday.

Police believe the e-mails are part of a Nigerian e-mail scam and that the recipients are not in danger.

"It's a new type of Internet scam," Kurczy said. "It's a pretty brutal one."

The e-mail states that the sender has been hired by someone to kill the recipient unless a payment is made.

"Get back to me if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life," said one e-mail.

The e-mail also states that the recipient should not contact police.

But anyone who receives an e-mail of this nature should get in touch with the Police Department, Kurczy said.

Recipients should not respond to the e-mails, he said.

"It's not a legitimate threat," Kurczy said. "You read it, you think it's legitimate. That's how they get the money."

Similar reports came out of Chattanooga, Tenn., last week.

Mendon Police have spoken with the FBI, who confirmed that it is a scam, Kurczy said.

Police captured some of the e-mails' Internet provider information and will continue to investigate, said Chief Ernest Horn.

"It appears to be linked to some Nigerian gangs," Horn said. "We don't believe (the recipients) are in any sort of danger whatsoever."

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