Your money or your life? Woman dodges hit man scam

VANCOUVER, Wash. — It's not every day someone claims to have been hired to kill you.

That could change with the emergence in Vancouver of the hit-man scam.

A 64-year-old Fishers Landing woman was going through her e-mails last week when she came to one from "YOUR LIFE AT MY HAND."

The message got really weird when she opened it.

"I have been duly paid $40,000 in advance to terminate your life for some reasons listed to me by my employer, its one I believe you call a friend," the sender wrote.

The sender claimed to have followed the woman for a month, and to know she was innocent of his employers gripes against her. The anonymous sender didn't want to kill her, the e-mail said, but shed better keep quiet.

"In your best interest, do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this to any security agents, because if you do, I will certainly know through the impeccable assistance of my secret agents, and will be forced to do what I have been duly paid to do."

What he wanted was money and a lot of it.

"Now listen, I will arrange for us to see face to face but before that I need the amount of $80,000, you have nothing to be afraid of... You will need to transfer $20,000 to the account I will provide for you, before we will set our first meeting."

At the end of the e-mail, the sender wrote: "You don't need my phone contact for now till am assured you are ready to comply... The choice remains yours, and you have the next 72 hours to make that choice, otherwise you will live your limited life watching your back."

He signed off as "The Contractor."

Sorry "hit man"no cash for you

The woman who received the threat said it gave her mixed feelings, but she sent no money.

"I looked at it and my first thought was This is just another scam, delete it."

Upon further reflection, she said, "I'm like This is bad. It more than creeps you out. It's like your space is invaded. It kind of made me look over my shoulder."

She said she told 911 officials and Vancouver police, and visited the attorney generals Consumer Protection office at 1220 Main St. She said she was passed from one to the other, and was told its just a scam.

The womans family then notified The Columbian, so she could warn the public.

"I don't want someone else to fall for it or be scared," she said.

Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp first reported the hit-man scam last month.

Rather than exploiting folks greed, this one tries to scare you into sending off money.

In such scam pitches, the e-mails are sent off as spam to thousands of people, in hopes that a few will comply.