DCSO warns of e-mail fraud scheme

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is warning citizens of an e-mail fraud scheme circulating again, in which the sender of the e-mail claims to have been hired by a friend or acquaintance to murder the recipient.

The sender of the email claims to have been following the intended victim for some time, expresses the belief that the victim is innocent of the reasons for the murder contract, and offers to cancel the contract on the victim's life and provide a video or audio tape of the murder for hire discussion in exchange for several thousand dollars.

Variations on the scheme have also been identified in which the e-mail claims to be from a law enforcement organization, states a person was recently arrested and that papers were found on the person that indicate the e-mail recipient was identified as an intended victim of a murder for hire.

This email fraud scheme is one that seems to circulate every few months.

The best way to avoid becoming entangled in an e-mail fraud scheme is to beware of unsolicited emails, emails from individuals or organizations unknown to you, and any offer that sounds "too good to be true".

People who receive these types of e-mails should never respond to them, and should never respond to any requests for personal identification or contact information.

Providing any personal information can compromise your identity and lead to identity theft with tremendous negative impacts. Never provide bank account numbers, financial data, social security or date-of-birth information, or any other personal information. And never agree to meet with an individual, inside or outside your home, to settle the matter.

Area residents who have been victimized by any type of email fraud scheme, or suspect internet fraud, can file an online complaint through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is an alliance between the National White Collar Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by going to www.ic3.gov .

The center accepts online internet crime complaints from either the individual who believes they were defrauded, or from a third party with knowledge of the incident or circumstance.

The Internet Complaint Center serves as a vehicle to receive, develop and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding area of cyber crime.

The Internet Complaint Center gives victims of cyber crime an easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations, and a central referral mechanism for federal state, local and even international law enforcement agencies.