I was paid to kill you, email scammer tells Pierre de Vos

An email scam attempts to convince its potential victims that someone close to them has put out a hit on them and that sending money to the scammer, who poses as a hired assassin, will stop them from being killed.

Constitutional law expert Professor Pierre de Vos posted a tweet on the scam email he received, which EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema then retweeted. De Vos dubbed the new scam “not very convincing”.

Despite the scam’s premise being a little on the far-fetched side, it has the potential to cause panic among its recipients, especially those who have a lot of enemies.

Email scammers are always looking at innovative new ways to get more gullible members of the World Wide Web to part with their money.

This newest example sees them upping the stakes by attempting to portray the imaginary situation that would lead to people potentially sending them large sums of money as life or death.

Those who receive these ‘hitman’ emails are advised to take a step back, read over the email properly and realise they’re probably not important enough to cause anyone to put out a hit on them.