Australians receive SMS death threats
Hundreds of Australians have received unsolicited TXT messages in which their imminent demise is predicted, along with an offer to avoid a hitman's gunsights if they fork over some hard-earned. The messages read as follows: “Someone paid me to kill you, get spared, 48 hours to pay $5000.00 if you inform police or anybody death …
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Easy rule for scams, especially in Australia
Didgeridont
Simples
Toodeloo
Why bother censoring the email address on that screenshot, it's been so widely published in all media (print, tv, online) over here there is no doubt that yahoo have already shutdown the account
Why is the ACCC involved?
Surely this is actually threatening people?
I'd be surprised if at least a few people hadn't absolutely crapped their pants over this. Shouldn't it be a police matter?
Re: Why is the ACCC involved?
Because the government has a monopoly on scamming people and extorting money off them
This once more shows that...
...Robert A. Heinlein was correct in his estimation that Common Sense is anything but common. A hit for a measly 5000? Or rather for less than that; the hit person would want to get a higher profit than from the original contract, if he actually existed. Plus, he would be facing the threat of being the next target himself after not fulfilling a contract.
I choose death by ale. Hand me another pint, please...
Re: This once more shows that...
-- A hit for a measly 5000?
Apparently, yes. Or so I'm told by somebody who knows somebody who ...
You don't have to look far to find someone who would do it for a beer or two.
Re: This once more shows that...
Twenty or so years ago, when I was in a very different line of work, someone offered to "get rid of" a problem person in my life for £100, or the tool to do it myself for £50. I had no doubt the person making the offer was a) serious, b) trying to help, and c) able to fulfil what he was offering. I - very politely - refused the offer!
Life is very cheap to some people.
Re: This once more shows that...
I'd do it for a Mountain Dew
Warning....logic fail!
What puzzles me is how they can claim this to be true, did they fail logic 101?
"which clearly aren't scaring everyone into forking over the cash."
By definition the people actually handing over the cash aren't calling the police, sure the people who do call the police aren't handing over the cash, but thats ALL that it tells us, it doesn't tell us how many ARE handing over the cash and not calling police because they are to scared.
Re: Warning....logic fail!
"which clearly aren't scaring everyone into forking over the cash."
This says that not everyone is being scared into paying.
The statement is true, it just doesn't tell us anything useful about how many people have been successfully conned. Nor does it exclude the possibility that someone paid up _and_ went to the police, but I think that's an unlikely scenario.
Did you take Logic 101 Mr Brooks? ;-)
This is not a joke
Someone paid me to kill you. You have 48 hours to upvote me. Do not call the police or someone promise to get killed. Upvote me now!
Re: This is not a joke
Aha, having to use a joke alert because Police UK can't take jokes.
Re: This is not a joke
@BrownishMonstr
Of course the UK Police can take a joke. Just don't threaten to murder an airport.
Presumably those who *have* paid...
Are those who (a) have knowingly annoyed enough people to think that they're a target and (b) think they're only worth five grand... maybe this might persuade some to change their ways?
Think of it as evolution in action.
Could you trust them?
I mean, $5K is a lot of dosh - could I trust the hitman not to kill me even after I've paid? But clearly he can't be trusted as he's already broken his original contract to kill me - or has he? If he takes my money and kills me anyway then he *hasn't* broken his original contract, so he IS trustworthy - no, wait, hang on, now he's just broken his agreement with me by killing me, so he's dishonest aftert all, which means he won't kill me...my brain hurts...
Re: Could you trust them?
contracts are binding in law. If he breaks the contract you have legal recourse available. There will even be some no-win no-fee lawyer outfits willing to help you out in a clear cut case of contractual violation.
Binding contracts
Actually, and regrettably to interject a fact into an hilarious comment thread, a purported contract to engage in illegal activity is not enforceable. Illegal contract is illegal.
Carry on!
If anyone has received that text with the blanked out email they can just send the money to my email account and I'll make sure it gets to the right person....
Fly, All is Discovered
I'm reminded of the probably apocryphal story of the man who sent 10 anonymous letters to local people at random, which simply said 'Fly! All is discovered.' Three of them packed their bags and one committed suicide...
People do have guilty secrets, so perhaps it's not just the gullible who are paying up but the occasional individual who reads the SMS and thinks 'Oh, bugger.....'
Re: Fly, All is Discovered
So 40% of people have a big secret?
That's not stretching the realms of imagination, to be fair..
That story did make me laugh, though. Hadn't heard it before :)
Re: Fly, All is Discovered
Mark Twain and Conan Doyle both supposedly sent this message to their firends. Although the version I found says that ALL of them left.
You can tell it's a scam...
...a real hitman would have used bullet points!
ಠ_ಠ
(OK, I'm going.)
Re: You can tell it's a scam...
I dont know what character encoding you used there, but it don't work for me.
Simple explanation
As it happened in Australia it was probably the first mobile phone over there. In that instance you have to expect the odd spelling mistake.
FLEE AT ONCE — ALL IS DISCOVERED
"FLEE AT ONCE — ALL IS DISCOVERED."
Both Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle supposedly sent similar anonymous telegrams to a dozen prominent friends, one of who in each case packed up and left without explanation
Someone paid me to Kill you!
My Reply:Send me half the money and I'll do it myself, save you the risk.
Terminator - Cause I cannot self fornicate...or is it terminate?
Precision extortion
Exactly $5000.00 - not a cent more, not a cent less (thinks: there might be a book in that?)
For the want of a period, the ransom was lost.
It depends how you parse this:
Someone paid me to kill you, get spared, 48hours to pay $5000.00 if you inform police or anybody, death is promised.
It sounds like you have to pay 5 thousand dollars for the privilege of death, but only if you tell others. Bugger that for a game of solders.
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