Phishing scam uses threat
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A new Internet scam had Moline police investigating death threats delivered to two Moline residents by e-mail this week.
Police confirmed the e-mails were an Internet phishing scam and not a real threat.
“We don’t feel there is any imminent threat to anybody here in the Quad-Cities,” Lt. Jerome Patrick said. “We’ve heard of these before.”
Police investigated the threats and found they originated from Mexico and Israel but were almost identical and resembled a generic form letter, Patrick said.
The e-mails contained the heading: “BE MORE CAREFUL.” The sender claims they have been paid to kill the e-mail recipient and have the victim’s name, picture and other information, but does not give specifics. They also claim they are watching the victim.
They try to negotiate with the e-mail recipient on “fees” to spare their life and offer to sell a tape recording of the murder for hire solicitation. It also warns the victim not to contact police.
The sender’s goal is to extort private information such as credit card and bank information, Patrick said.
“There is a possibility there is more,” Patrick said of the e-mails. “A lot of people will take it as spam or phishing and not notify us, which is fine.”
Patrick said those who receive such e-mails can visit the FBI’s Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov on the Internet and report the incident. He said the FBI is overwhelmed with similar reports of phishing and has set up the Web site to collect reports.
Moline police have officers trained to investigate such reports and determine whether they’re a scam or legitimate. Patrick said they do not pursue the investigation once its determined the threat originated from a foreign country.
Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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