There are plenty of email scams out there, from the grandparent scam to the computer virus scam, but there's a new twist to one of the ways fraudsters are trying to take your money.
Norfolk County OPP say one of the scams making the rounds again involves an email from an alleged hitman hired to kill the recipient.
Police were alerted to the latest scam after receiving a call from a concerned Waterford, Ont. resident who had received an email purported to be from a hitman.
Const. Ed Sanchuk says "Obviously the resident was quite upset, in shock and in disbelief. And,as a result of looking further into the email, it was determined that the sender was asking for $7,000 in a money transfer service."
The email reportedly details that a close family member or friend hired them and that their job is to assassinate the recipient. It goes on to say that the receiver of the email is being watched and not to contact the police under any circumstances.
A large quantity of funds is then requested in order to cancel the assassination, and the sender indicates that the funds are to be sent through the use of a money transfer service and at no time should anything be said to anyone.
Sanchuk said in a statement "These scam emails are generally sent to a large number of people in the hope that one or more will respond and be drawn further into the scam. If you receive one of these messages, you should not reply or respond to the scammers in any way. As well as the direct attempts to extort money, the scammers may also try to obtain personal information from a victim so that they can steal his or her identity."
If you have received an email of this nature you are asked to contact your local police service and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or http://www.antifraudcentre.ca.
The website also has examples of this and other email scams dating back to 2008.
