How This Fraud Works And What You Can Do About It

By Odessa Dessi

'Hitman' scams are a relatively new type of scam that you may encounter. As this type of scam increases in popularity, you need to understand what this is and how to avoid them. The scam begins with an e-mail address, which is exceptionally easy to obtain on the internet.

The writer e-mails the mark, states that they have been hired to kill the recipient, but feel bad about carrying out the contract so will not do it if they are paid a certain amount of money. Naturally, this is a shock to the person receiving the e-mail. On average several thousands of dollars are lost if a person falls for this scam.

This kind of scam profits by manipulating a person's fear. After all, hitmen on TV kill people for various, inconsequential reasons all of the time. These kinds of things do not happen to regular people, and especially if said person has done no wrong.

There are those who have fallen for the scam and have sent money to get the "hitman" to back off. However, for the most part, people can see through this scam and send the email to the authorities. This is the proper course of action if you should encounter such a message.

A variation of this type of scam will seem to come from an urban police department somewhere in the world. This e-mail states that someone has been arrested, and your name has come up in the investigation. The e-mail proceeds to ask you for personal details. These e-mails are trying to perpetrate an identity theft, so you should never give out your personal information over the internet. This is precisely the reason that you need to use 411infoseek.com/732/835/ and similar sources for telephone lookups. In this way, you'll be able to verify the identity of the person who has contacted you.

The personal information gleaned from the victim can be used to clear out the bank accounts and credit cards of the person, robbing them of all their money. The victim's credit record is a complete loss, and they become absolutely broke with no funds to speak of.

This variety of scam is expected to become more prevalent with time. One method of preventing fraud is to simply delete e-mails in which you do not recognize the sender. Even e-mails that seem legitimate, and which may seem to be coming from a reputable company, should be treated carefully. If you're not actively engaged in business with someone, don't buy it. Even businesses like Yahoo and WalMart can be invoked by a scammer if they want to attempt stealing your information.

It's critical that you try to keep your e-mail address private, similar to your traditional mailing address. A scammer can only obtain your information if you actively open and replay to his e-mail, so try to avoid opening them entirely. The delete button is your best weapon against the possibility of a hitman scam. - 29941

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