If the email can scare at first, it should not be taken seriously. Since May 2023, a vast campaign of fraudulent messages of attempted scams with death threats or assaults has been spotted by the authorities. This Tuesday, the Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform thus alerted Internet users against these missives, written by a “pseudo-hitman”.
Concretely, “a crook pretends to be a hitman. He claims to have been hired and given money to murder or assault you. […] However, he offers you to cancel this contract and also undertakes to reveal to you the name of the sponsor if you pay it in your turn”, explain the services of the State, which cite the example of a message written by a so-called hitman by the name of “Death Angel”.
“This is not a joke or a hoax, let alone a joke. I perform all kinds of services related to organized crime – including the destruction of property and the kidnapping, even the murder, ”notes the scammer. A well-formulated preamble before getting to the threats. “This week the client contacted me with all your details and asked me to kill you. This in exchange for a large sum of money that will be deposited in my untraceable account after my crime,” the message continues. Giving the victim 48 hours, the Angel of Death then issues an ultimatum: if he does not receive the money, he will accomplish his mission “flawlessly”; if the target wishes to “cooperate”, “in addition to their inaction”, the scammer will give the latter “all the information about the customer and the reason why this person is after them”. Stating that the police cannot “solve the problem”, “Death Angel” recalls that he “monitors every movement” of the recipient.
Faced with this wave of scams, the platform gives three tips to potential victims: “Don’t panic! Don’t answer! Do not pay!”, “Report the fraudulent message to Signal Spam”, and “Report the extortion attempt on the dedicated platform of the Ministry of the Interior (Pharos)”. “This is a scam attempt that aims to scare you and arouse your curiosity to extort money from you,” she adds. On this occasion, the State services recall that if there has been extortion, this offense is punishable by seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros. And invite you to file a complaint.
