From a large high-tech corpporation in San Diego, relayed by an employee, the following mailing was distirbuted to employees:

>
>A XXX Company employee recently received an extortion email demanding
>money. It appears that the email is a variant of the Nigerian fraud
>emails with which most of us are familiar. The reported details of
>the scam can be found beginning below.
>
>If you receive this type of email, or have any questions about it,
>please contact Ms. A..B.C, or your HR rep. or me
>immediately.
>
>                                                        New Fraud
>
>The FBI is investigating an current e-mail extortion scam that
>threatens recipients with death if they fail to pay tens of
>thousands of dollars to a would-be killer. The e-mails, which so far
>have been sent to U.S. corporate executives, physicians, university
>deans and others, claim the sender has been contracted to kill the
>recipient, but for a payment of $30,000 to $50,000 will not carry
>out the job. Although there are many Internet scams aimed at
>convincing people to part with their money, this apparently is the
>first one to threaten targets with violence.
>
>The threats, sent through accounts on Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and
>perhaps others, order the target to wire a large initial sum of
>$20,000 to $40,000 to an overseas account. The perpetrator or
>perpetrators then might ask for another payment, claiming they never
>received payment or that the account was shut down by authorities
>before the cash could be withdrawn. Victims who express doubt about
>the extortionist's claims have received even more threatening
>messages containing personal information as "proof" of their
>capabilities and intent.
>
>The FBI has received a total of 115 complaints regarding this scam
>since December 2006, when the first wave of threatening e-mails
>appeared. Two other waves have followed, each about a month to six
>weeks after the previous wave. Traces of the extortion e-mails
>indicate they are coming from overseas, although it is unclear which
>countries are involved.
>
>In many cases, the personal information required to target certain
>individuals can be found quite easily on the Internet. Corporate and
>university Web sites, for example, often list top officials by name,
>along with the positions they hold -- and some contain direct e-mail
>addresses. Clinics also often provide listings of their physicians,
>complete with their backgrounds and photographs. Moreover, on
>company Web sites, the leadership structure often is laid out, with
>CEOs and other top-tier executives -- the wealthier potential
>victims -- listed first. A minute or two on the Web site, then,
>allows the extortionists to determine who would make the most
>attractive target.
>
>The scammers also could be purchasing personal information from
>third parties engaged in the practice of "phishing," gaining
>personal information such as credit card or bank account numbers
>online by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an e-mail or on a
>fraudulent Web site. Phishing also can be used to gain e-mail
>account information not easily obtained from a Web site, though in
>many cases the target's e-mail address can be accurately guessed
>based on his or her name and the e-mail address protocol used by the
>company.
>
>This latest e-mail scam is a new twist on virtual kidnapping, in
>which the perpetrators do not physically abduct anyone but instead
>use cell phones to convince the target's family that a kidnapping
>has occurred and demand immediate "ransom" payments. The scam also
>is similar to extortion activity targeting Hispanic businesses along
>the U.S.-Mexican border. In those cases, targets receive phone calls
>threatening them or their families if money is not paid.
>
>Most scams circulating on the Internet involve attempts to convince
>the e-mail recipient to transfer money into a bank account set up by
>the scammer. These usually involve a plea for help and the promise
>of an eventual reward. Because these scams are attempts to defraud,
>the U.S. government gets involved in investigating them. This latest
>scam, however, has upped the ante considerably, making it a national
>security issue -- regardless of whether the threats are real.
>
>It is unclear how many targets, if any, have been taken in by this
>scam and complied with the threats. Judging from virtual kidnapping
>attempts, as well as the history of scam letters, faxes and e-mails
>from Nigeria -- the most common of the plea-for-help scams -- a
>small percentage of targets will be taken in, making the effort of
>sending these threats worthwhile. People who believe the threat
>likely obey the extortionist's instructions not to report it to
>authorities. They might even make the payment if they rationalize
>that the amount demanded does not warrant taking the risk. Other
>targets might wait to see whether other threats follow before taking
>concrete action.
>
>The Nigerian-based e-mail scams have been going on for years now;
>apparently, there is no easy way to stop such Internet abuse except
>to warn the public.
>
>END

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A grim turn to the hopes on world-wide communication once offered by the new internet. But it helps to be aware of such things, just in case you run across one.

Regards,

Amos