West Chester, Pennsylvania, Warns of Scam Artists Threatening to Kill Professionals

A disturbing scam in West Chester, Pa., is coming alive again this month after first being discovered in January.

According to a press release by the Chester County District Attorney's Office, the scam that became apparent to law enforcement agencies in January is similar in approach this time around only with a different target audience. With the considerable media attention given lately to scams like these, it is important to spread the word about how these schemes so as to limit the terrorizing power these scam artists exert on their victims.

The scam works something like this. The fraud scheme is usually initialized through an e-mail contact, but victims will sometimes get a letter. Recent targets of this scam have been professionals who have their contact information posted in the public domain. Attorneys, for example, post their contact information and often some biographical information to their respective State Bar Association. This information can be accessed by anyone with access to the internet who knows how to use a search engine.

The scam artist sends the e-mail or letter to the target stating that he or she has been hired to kill the person for reasons that the scam artist will not reveal. The scam artist claims to have been stalking them for some period of time, suggesting that they know about their daily movements. This, of course, could frighten any person considerably. The sender of the letter (scam artist) then claims that he or she has decided not to follow through with the contract to kill. Rather, the sender claims to want to help the victim by giving the victim a taped conversation where the sender of the letter agreed to kill the victim.

The scam artist urges the victim to use this tape as evidence to prosecute the unknown individual who hired the killer (who is really the scam artist). The scam artist offers to deliver the taped conversation once a down payment has been made. The press release does not indicate what kind of payment is being demanded by these scammers. It is probably safe to assume that the amount varies depending on the perceived level of wealth of the targeted victim. This demand of payment is often followed by another message through e-mail or regular mail that reprimands the victim for contacting law enforcement and threatens to follow through with the killing. This second message gives the victim one last chance to comply with the payment demand.

The press release states that the first versions of this scheme are thought to have developed from outside the United States. It also warns that additional attacks can be expected and could happen anywhere.

Several law enforcement agencies are investigating this threat at this time. The rise of technology has brought enormous innovation, but also has unfortunately introduced a rise in this sort of individual terror that these scam artists pursue in attempt to make a quick buck. If by some chance you receive a message like this, save the message and report it to local law enforcement immediately.

Sources:

Chester County Website, "http://dsf.chesco.org/"

Chester County District Attorney's Office, "http://dsf.chesco.org/da/site/default.asp"