Nigerian Hitmen?

The Nigerian letter email scam was (and still is) bad enough. But the Washington Post reports that an even worse one is circulating. People are receiving emails form someone claiming to be a hitman hired to kill the recipient. However, for a fee, the "hitman" promises not to kill the person.

If only real hit men were so courteous.

In recent months, authorities said, about a dozen Fairfax and Stafford county residents have received e-mails telling them that they are about to be killed. There is a twist: The killer offers a way out.

"The sender tells the receiver, 'I've been hired to kill you, it's one of your friends, I'm watching you. However . . . I don't believe you did what they said, and I'm going to give you a chance to pay me, and I won't kill you,' " Fairfax police spokeswoman Camille Neville said.

The e-mails are extortion for the electronic age, Fairfax and Stafford authorities said — scams to intimidate recipients into divulging personal information.

"What the sender is hoping to 'hit' is an individual's bank account," Bill Kennedy, a Stafford County sheriff's office spokesman, said about the scheme.

The content of the messages varies, including the sum demanded, authorities said. The messages are often rife with spelling and grammar errors, Kennedy said. Authorities said they could detect no connection or pattern among the people who have received the e-mails, many of which were sent to work addresses. 

As always, answering things like this is not a good idea. A good indicator of a scam is that the email solicits banking or personal information. Never, ever send that information in response to an email.