Story Submitted
Madison County Sheriff Ben Stewart reports that the Madison County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) has been made aware of a spam email that various citizens within Madison County have received.
The sender of this email identifies themselves as “DEATH” and the email is sent to “Recipients.”
The body of the email states “Someone paid me to kill you…get spared, 48hrs to pay $5,000.”
The email also makes reference to 'Death Coming' if the recipient contacts the police or anyone else.
Sheriff Stewart warns citizens who receive this email to block the sender and delete it immediately.
Do not try to respond in any way. Often times, these emails have hidden viruses, malware, spyware, and harmful cookies that are designed to attack and corrupt the receiving account. Emails such as these are often generated from servers controlled by individuals who seek to hack into random victims' accounts in order to steal personal information. These attempts are known as phishing.
The MCSO treats these incidents seriously and investigators are attempting to trace the origin of these types of emails, but are rarely able to locate the source. Much like the phone call scams that are commonly received, the sender routes the email through multiple servers around the world utilizing multiple IP addresses.
Sheriff Stewart encourages everyone to ensure that their anti-virus software is up to date and to routinely scan their computers and devices to detect these attempted electronic intrusions.