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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 20:10:20 GMT -5
I got a text from 276-266-9708 today saying "Hello, ***someone has paid me to kill you, to spare your life you have just 24 hours to send me a private message on my email. If you inform police or anybody, death is promised. Negotiate for your life email me now - president2345@gmail.com" It's been a very fierce couple of days here in my HOA world but this is over the top for sure. Local PD will not take a report unless I allow them to dispatch a unit to my location which I will not do. Ideas, thought, strategies FYI, I was one of two who voted in favor of a low-income housing project in our neighborhood. Another night on the couch with a gun and prayers. This is not right!
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milee
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Post by milee on Nov 26, 2017 20:17:57 GMT -5
Why would you not allow the police to dispatch a unit to your location?
There is no way I'd let this slide. It probably has nothing to do with your HOA stuff, is probably just a shakedown scam like the fake IRS ones - why else would they ask you to contact them? - but in case it's not, you should get it documented in a police report.
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Shooby
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Post by Shooby on Nov 26, 2017 20:18:07 GMT -5
I would call the Police and allow them to dispatch a unit.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Nov 26, 2017 20:22:19 GMT -5
This is a common scam. See e.g. [ 1] [ 2] for examples of messages with identical wording. You can alert the police, but I personally wouldn't bother.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Nov 26, 2017 20:26:04 GMT -5
Do you recognize the phone number? I just googled it, and it seems like a legit cell number rather than one associated with a scam. I would also edit your post, just in case..Because I can get a city, state, and cell phone carrier (and other demographics) with a simple google search. And for pete's sake, get the police involved. That said...there IS a hitman scam that has resurfaced taxbot.com/blog/blog/2017/11/13/the-hitman-scam/If you think it's credible, I still would have the police come by.
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Happy prose
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Post by Happy prose on Nov 26, 2017 20:33:20 GMT -5
If you don't want the police at your house, go to the police station. They were probably telling you they won't investigate with just your phone call.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 26, 2017 20:41:44 GMT -5
If you don't want the police at your house, go to the police station. They were probably telling you they won't investigate with just your phone call. Good suggestion. And if there is anyway you can make a recording of the message, do so. Bring it with you should you go to the police station. No harm in filing a police report.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Nov 27, 2017 13:23:04 GMT -5
Seems like a scam to me.
What professional hit man would do something like that? He knows he'll get paid tens of thousands for killing someone, why would he take a chance that you could offer him more?
And would someone put a hit on you just over an HMO argument? Wouldn't it be easier (and way more legal) to just sell his house and move?
You should go to the police station and show them the message. Hopefully they can provide you with proof that there is some local kid or whack job who has started doing this for some kind of twisted fun, or on the off chance that someone actually pays him money.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Nov 27, 2017 13:34:29 GMT -5
Do you recognize the phone number? I just googled it, and it seems like a legit cell number rather than one associated with a scam.I would also edit your post, just in case..Because I can get a city, state, and cell phone carrier (and other demographics) with a simple google search. And for pete's sake, get the police involved. That said...there IS a hitman scam that has resurfaced taxbot.com/blog/blog/2017/11/13/the-hitman-scam/If you think it's credible, I still would have the police come by. the majority of the spam calls I've gotten over the last year or so have been spoofed to look very similar to my own number. all have come up as legit cell numbers on search.
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Opti
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Post by Opti on Nov 27, 2017 13:56:41 GMT -5
If you don't want the police at your house, go to the police station. They were probably telling you they won't investigate with just your phone call. Good suggestion. And if there is anyway you can make a recording of the message, do so. Bring it with you should you go to the police station. No harm in filing a police report. Agreed. While it is most likely a scam, it would be wise to do at the very least , a police report at the station if you don't want them to dispatch a unit.
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Spellbound454
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Post by Spellbound454 on Nov 27, 2017 14:04:57 GMT -5
I think its a scam too ............but I would certainly tell the police so that they know its doing the rounds and can warn other people. Besides making death threats is illegal here..... and it wouldn't be hard to find the person responsible.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Nov 27, 2017 14:05:05 GMT -5
Since everyone thinks this is a scam, it does need to be reported. I think our state Attorney General is the one who keeps track of scams. Also put it on snopes or hoaxes.
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souldoubt
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Post by souldoubt on Nov 27, 2017 14:12:10 GMT -5
Do you recognize the phone number? I just googled it, and it seems like a legit cell number rather than one associated with a scam.I would also edit your post, just in case..Because I can get a city, state, and cell phone carrier (and other demographics) with a simple google search. And for pete's sake, get the police involved. That said...there IS a hitman scam that has resurfaced taxbot.com/blog/blog/2017/11/13/the-hitman-scam/If you think it's credible, I still would have the police come by. the majority of the spam calls I've gotten over the last year or so have been spoofed to look very similar to my own number. all have come up as legit cell numbers on search. I saw a news report about this a few days ago. Scammers are getting more and more creative and one way they get people to answer is by having a number very similar to that of the person they're calling. By the time you can google or search for something to find out if it's legit some scammers are already moving on to something else to try and trick people.
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billisonboard
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Post by billisonboard on Nov 27, 2017 15:28:24 GMT -5
I agree it is likely a scam but just in case it isn't and you are killed, please make sure you let us know so we won't dismiss it so quickly next time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2017 15:28:41 GMT -5
I think it's a scam, too, but I would definitely report it. I got a death threat in my school email. I turned it into the principal who turned it into the School Resource Officer. They took it very seriously even though I didn't actually feel threatened. They traced it to a couple of middle schoolers. It wasn't even meant for me! There are two of us in the district with the same name. So my death threat was basically a wrong number!
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Nov 27, 2017 15:32:11 GMT -5
You should report it because the police can create a notice about it and warn other people. Does your area have something like 7 can help? That's a local news station department we can call around here and report these things. They will investigate and if there is something there run a story about it alerting others so they do not fall victim to the scam. As far as phone numbers we've had scammers use everything from my MIL's number to our own house phone. If you typed in the number you'd get a legit address. Upon closer examination I noticed that they had used the wrong area code for our number. They do that on purpose because people who notice it's the right number but wrong code are not easy marks.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 27, 2017 18:23:42 GMT -5
A former co-worker of mine received the message below in email today:
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 27, 2017 18:45:53 GMT -5
This is a common scam. See e.g. [ 1] [ 2] for examples of messages with identical wording. You can alert the police, but I personally wouldn't bother. I never report crap like this, although I have never gotten a death threat to my cell phone. However, people do report this, and a few years ago, they did a huge raid on a facility in India where they were making the fake tax collector calls. We were getting up to 5 calls per day, and then it went to zero. So reporting it is not useless. They do hunt these things down.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2017 20:53:46 GMT -5
Thank you, everyone, for your support and input. Once I climbed down off the ceiling I researched it online and found that it is a fairly common text scam that makes the rounds of the country. Last fall Maryland was really hard hit. Apparently the real danger lies in clicking on a link to an email in the message which, of course, downloads malware or ransomware to your device.
I took a copy of the screenshot to my local police substation and they wouldn't accept a report. Yes, you read that right, they wouldn't accept a report. "Just an Internet thing-no real threat".
I definitely over-reacted at the time because a post on local social media (Nextdoor) had just named me as one of two persons voting in support of an issue at last month's HOA meeting, and the anti's were calling for our "removal" from the neighborhood. Believe me, they don't mean buying us out.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 27, 2017 21:28:12 GMT -5
Donethat-in the late 80s it was possible I was going to have to testfy at a work related trial. I had been part of a conversation which would put the plaintiffs, two former co-workers terminated for the theft of several hundred thousand dollars of jewelry and blank travel checks, in a very bad light.
One day I received a letter in the mail with no return address. It said "If you want to live in peace, don't be a witness, don't testify. Pass it along."
I knew what it meant and who sent it. I contacted my boss who contacted our company's security and legal departments. Security and legal departments contacted the plaintiffs' lawyer to tell his clients to knck that crap off.
For the next couple of nights I jammed a chair against my apartment door and also bought my first answering machine. I let the machine answer my calls for the next few weeks just in case. Paranoid sure. But I also knew what the plaintiffs were capable of.
In the end, I did not have to testify nor did the plaintiffs win the $500 million they were seeking in damages.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Nov 27, 2017 21:34:08 GMT -5
A former co-worker of mine received the message below in email today: I could see that being a lot more effective than the Nigerian prince thing. Odds are probably high that a good percentage of recipients were using their computer to watch porn recently and are perturbed enough at the thought of the video going out to their contact list to fork over $340 😂 Death threat scams are unforgivably wrong, though. I'm sure it was a spoof, but I'd still report it in the hopes that asshole would be caught and charged with a federal wire crime. Scamming people is always wrong, but putting them in fear of their life or safety? Just the lowest of the low. Sorry, Donethat, and hope it's already behind you. ETA - just saw your update. I'm glad it wasn't an HOA member but sorry it was ever in question!
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moon/Laura
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Post by moon/Laura on Nov 28, 2017 10:56:18 GMT -5
I could never take Tenn's example seriously, just because of the grammar.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 28, 2017 11:00:30 GMT -5
I could never take Tenn's example seriously, just because of the grammar. My former co-worker thought it was hilarious.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Nov 28, 2017 15:46:26 GMT -5
This is a common scam. See e.g. [ 1] [ 2] for examples of messages with identical wording. You can alert the police, but I personally wouldn't bother. I never report crap like this, although I have never gotten a death threat to my cell phone. However, people do report this, and a few years ago, they did a huge raid on a facility in India where they were making the fake tax collector calls. We were getting up to 5 calls per day, and then it went to zero. So reporting it is not useless. They do hunt these things down. The articles are for Australia, where this particular scam appears to have originated. The Australian police direct callers to report offenders to specific anti-fraud offices (details in the articles). I imagine the very same kind of organization(s) exist in the US, and since donethat may be one of the early US targets, it makes sense for her to find out which agency to contact and then contact them. At the very least it helps them keep track of statistics, phone numbers (although these can unfortunately be spoofed, etc. It's also good that she put up the exact wording in the OP. I found the articles by running a search on the message text, which appears verbatim in the Australian version. Anyone running a search in future might wind up visiting this thread, which has everyone's advice and feedback.
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Nov 28, 2017 15:53:35 GMT -5
Either I've received too many threats in my life to take them seriously (possible), or y'all are unnecessarily paranoid. Last person who tried to threaten me, I invited them over to my place, said I have a lot of unresolved anger from the 2003 college football season, and welcome the excuse to get violent. They did not take me up on my offer.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Nov 28, 2017 16:07:16 GMT -5
Either I've received too many threats in my life to take them seriously (possible), or y'all are unnecessarily paranoid. Last person who tried to threaten me, I invited them over to my place, said I have a lot of unresolved anger from the 2003 college football season, and welcome the excuse to get violent. They did not take me up on my offer. John Smith did this a few months ago. Unfortunately the nutter came over to his house and shot him to death. He'd be here to tell us all about it, but, well...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2017 17:24:28 GMT -5
Do you ever wonder why the scammers don't hire a native speaker to proof their emails? I mean, it's not like you can't be a criminal if you know how to write a grammatically correct sentence.
Just saying . . .
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Nov 28, 2017 17:29:51 GMT -5
Easier to find the marks that way. People with all their mental faculties are going to delete anything written in that style, but their target audiences overlook the typos. The last thing you want is for your scam to attract a bunch of cynical YMers.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Nov 28, 2017 18:02:02 GMT -5
Easier to find the marks that way. People with all their mental faculties are going to delete anything written in that style, but their target audiences overlook the typos. The last thing you want is for your scam to attract a bunch of cynical YMers. [img src="http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/wink.png" alt=" " src="//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png" class="smile"] I'll bet you a thousand snow leopard pelts it's as simple as the scammers being too lazy, too untrustworthy of confiding in persons outside of their close-knit circle, or too ignorant to realize the person(s) proofing their messages are doing a lousy job of it. It's not just the language, either. The scam e-mail's I've received contain laughably bad factual errors and ignorance of some of the most basic rules on how the world works. I'll bet you two thousand snow leopard pelts this isn't intentional either. These people aren't educated professionals choosing fraud rather than a real career for the the thrill of it. They're ignorant, semi-educated (albeit not stupid) losers making big money the only way they know how, and their ignorance shines through in anything they write.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Nov 28, 2017 18:14:21 GMT -5
Two thousand snow leopard pelts. I will take them off your hands! No compensation to you, of course.
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