Slashdot Mirror
Australians Receive SMS Death Threats
beaverdownunder writes "Many Aussies across New South Wales and South Australia had a bit of a shock this morning when they received an SMS threatening them with assassination. Although somewhat varied, the messages have typically read, 'Someone paid me to kill you. If you want me to spare you, I'll give you two days to pay $5000. If you inform the police or anybody, you will die, I am monitoring you', and signed with the e-mail address killerking247@yahoo.com. Police and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have warned that the messages are almost certainly fake, and that no dialogue should be entered into with scammers." I hope "almost certainly" is droll understatement.
I paid good money to have you guys assassinated.
Do not moderate it or report it to the moderators. I am watching you.
A good joke always brightens my mood and relaxes me which helps me to sleep better.
Commisioner also stated that "You're almost certainly unlikely to be found dead in the bush 7 days after the message. Reason of death won't probably be 20-25 stab wounds in all body parts. There's practically no possibility your eyes will be burned out with hot iron. We find it very improbable that you will be dismembered with a piano wire and disemboweled. There is no reason for panic. Probably."
In England at least, judges have determined that SMS messages and Twitter have exactly the same status as any other written publication. Australian law is, I believe, based on English law. So: this would be a blackmail attempt. Five years' jail for every message seems about right. They need to find him and then he can spend the rest of his life locked in his parents' basement. Which, come to think of it, is pretty much what will happen if they don't catch him.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
It certainly is. On the other hand, assume you can send SMSes in a way which is not traceable and comparatively cheap. Assume you want the entire police force of some place - say, New South Wales - to be too busy and way less effective. Assume you want to commit some other crime which would greatly benefit from the police force in that place being too busy chasing phantoms.
What would you do?
This is a fairly common scam usually received by e-mail. Lot of examples on www.419-eater.com where these types of scammers are known as hitlads.
I keeeel you!
Max.
...and signed with the e-mail address killerking247@yahoo.com.
... ... ...yeah, sounds totally legit! This most be...uuhh...the king of all Hitmen! Or something...
I hope yahoo has some excellent spam filters... And that this piece of news is genuine and not just some personal vendetta against an email addy...
People who are wanting to commit suicide are finally getting valet service.
Maybe you'll die when your phone spontaneously combusts?
But I did get a spam once from someone claiming that he had evidence that would land me in prison, and threatening to report me to the FBI unless I immediately wrote back for instructions on how to pay him.
I did reply with a rather graphic description of the services his parents perform for sailors, and never heard from him again.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I don't think it's droll understatement. Whoever drafted the response from the authorities has to put that 'almost' in there in case someone does end up dead. Then they can say that they didn't rule out the possibility of them being legitimate.
Among other things, it is the freedom to tell someone that you hate them and want them dead, rather than smiling at them while you speak ill of them behind their back and plot their downfall.
define "Many Aussies".
20, 1000, 10 000, 100 000, 10 000 000?
This type of scam is quite common. Why is this news? The anti scam sites are full of stories of these scammers being baited to annoy then. Plug the text phrase into Google and you should find it reported verbatum on anti scam sites and scam baiting sites.
The truth shall set you free!
Its a Muzzie wothout brains trying to get funds for Al-Quaida
Hmmm who to call - the police or the ACCC ? Not sure the ACCC would pop into my head in this situation.
You can add Queensland to the list. My wife got the 'death threat' SMS. As far as I'm aware, it costs real $ to originate SMS's so hopefully it is traceable.
46137
But I did get a spam once from someone claiming that he had evidence that would land me in prison, and threatening to report me to the FBI unless I immediately wrote back for instructions on how to pay him.
Hey, is that you Julian Assange?
Have it your way!
I'm 9000 miles away from your shack in Nigeria. Do your worst.
The last time I checked everything in Australia will kill you in various ways so why would an extra assassin matter? Target a place where everything that moves isn't an assassin.
I got a different message, claiming I had won a prize and directing me to some fake website (apple.com.au.kqbfn.com or something along those lines). I live in NSW too, wonder of it was the same guys, I've never had SMS spam before.
Reminds me of an old Kids-in-the-Hall skit:
Casher: "And another $5 for the Stupidity Tax."
Customer: "Stupidity Tax? What's that?"
Casher: "Oh, since you asked about it, you don't have to pay."
You previously see the casher successfully get away with charging the tax with the other "stupid" customers.
The reason why we have so much spam and other scams is because there are enough stupid people to make it economically viable.
This might not be a scam, the SMS could come from the MPAA: "You all pay us 5000 bucks or we will send over a nuclear missile". Booooom!
Has anyone tried contacting killerking247@yahoo.com yet? That email account must be bloody famous right now.
Careful, you can get arrested for distributing Child porn.
Dear Fantastic Delights,
Somewhere, somehow, your vending machine has taken things way too far mate! And now some bloke bothered to accept that challenge!
Many years ago I received an email claiming to be from Al-Qaeda with an order to kill me. If they are actually trying to kill me, it must from boredom because I haven't seen any other serious effects from it. They also said they would spare my life if I sent them a large sum of cash.
Oddly enough when I replied to them from a throwaway email address asking them for more information they never got back to me.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
From my Ex !!
I thought that was normal !!
he confused it with message that he would get 7 years of death if he didn't forward it to 10 people and 100 years of wonderful glorious life if he did.
"Hello! I understand why you would want to kill a Nigerian prince, however, my country is in turmoil and my money is tied from my hands. Please allow me to send you a check for $30,000 which you can cash and please Western Union all but your $5000 back to me at this address: ..."
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
I've left the money in a brown paper bag on the back deck.
---
Then wait for them to explain why, when they've been watching you all along, they suddenly need to know your address.
IF YOU don't send me $500 I will TXT spam you endlessly and on most plans where you pay up to $0.25 for each TXT it will add up quickly
What, all of them?! o_O
The killer just got his new phone...
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
What professional hit-man would actually solicit his contracted victim for a bribe? He'd never get hired again.
Technoli
He should've sent a followup:
"The previous SMS was sent to many people in error. Only one of your lives is in danger. If you send me $5000 I'll let you know if it's you."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Who's going to trust a "killer" who was hired to kill you that is willing to be bought off? Doesn't sound like a very reliable sort to me. So you pay him off, he keeeellls you anyway, and you're out $5000. Or something.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I received that exact threat about a month ago. It was obviously horse sh*t so I didn't worry about it. I got it by email (at my work account) about three days after LinkedIn got its database hacked, so I assume they got my email address from LinkedIn.
Either these guys are a bunch of copycatters, or the same thing is happening. If I recall LinkedIn (like everyone else) wanted my cellphone number so they can contact me "in case of emergency." I f*cking hate that - I don't want everyone to have my cellphone number. That means Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Gmail can all bugger off.
So let's say LinkedIn gets hacked; they get email addresses but they also get cellphone numbers too. Badda boom, badda bing.
If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.
Many businesses that sell police and military equipment balk at the idea of selling body armor to average janes and joes. Recent events have probably heightened their vigilance and paranoia.
One company told me that they would make exceptions in the case of special circumstances, and specifically mentioned "death threats". If you have an SMS death threat, get your body armor now while it's cheap and available to you.
I cannot help being a narcissist.
-jcr
There are probably several hundred that say, "I'll double your price if you kill the guy that hired you to kill me!"
This should go under "Fraud" since there's no way he could kill all of those people in any reasonable amount of time.
AC, have I offended you in some way, or are you just behaving like an adolescent because you can't help yourself?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."