I’ve just read in a well respected Financial Periodical that a Financial Adviser in England has received an email from a Hitman that suggested a Competitor of the Adviser wanted his ‘head on a stick’ and requested £5,000 be sent to an anonymous Bitcoin account to spare his life.
They added that usually they would just “do the work without going into the details” but instead this time they planned to go away on a “long-awaited vacation”.
If the Adviser went to the “cops”, the email warned, it would only postpone his “doomsday” further.
Why do I tell you this? Because last week I got the same type of email. Like the English IFA I am treating it with the contempt it deserves (as I look nervously over my shoulder!)
Scammers seem to be finding more and more ways of threatening the ordinary man or woman and unfortunately it is the weak and vulnerable that is likely to be taken in. Emails are a wonderful method of communication but there is a downside too.
You probably already know this but, beware the expressions “Dear Valued Customer” or “Security Alert” or “A delivery attempt was made”.
I liked the cartoon I saw recently of a Royal Prince in an unnamed African Country trying to get his genuine fortune out of that country but was unable to find anyone to accept his grateful offer of 10% commission for the work he wanted them to do. Regrettably, I think more often it is a scam!