Bada-boom spam: hitman SMS alert-- Statist contractor shits himself

Transnational organised crime groups are responsible for death-threat text messages that have been circulating in Australia, West Australian police say.

The scammers pose as hitmen, demanding money from the recipient to spare their life.

"The first message was unexpected," Adrian Knox of Maylands said of the death-threat text he received at 11.15pm on Saturday.

"Another two came in quick succession and made me feel very uncomfortable. They put me on edge."

Mr Knox, 44, is a contractor for a Federal Government department.

Using his phone for both personal and work purposes, he was one of numerous West Australians to receive death threats by text since Saturday.

A typical message supplied by WA Police read: "Someone paid me to kill you. If you want me to spare you, I'll give you two days to pay $5000.

"If you inform the police or anybody, you will die. I am monitoring you".

The scammer also provides the victim with a payment method and an email address to contact them.

Detective Sergeant Duncan Taylor said the SMS messages were not serious death threats and should be ignored.

"This is simply a fraudulent scam," he said. "People don't need to be concerned with these threats.

"We are asking parents to speak to their children about this matter to let them know the threats aren't genuine.

"Its a transnational crime by organised crime groups. We're just advising Australians to be mindful of it and certainly don't send money to these people," he said.

Detective Sergeant Taylor stressed no money should be sent, nor contact made with the scammers.

He said money stolen through the scam was being sent through electronic transfers to Thailand, with no West Australian perpetrators involved.

Although WA Police was working with the Royal Thai Police, Detective Sergeant Taylor said the ill-gotten money may be being collected in a third country.

Victims' mobile numbers were either bought from lists or generated by computer.

"It came to intention through a rush of reports, as per usual," he said.

"This kind of scam has been on the email for some time.

"It is disturbing it has now escalated to people's phones."

While the scammers did not seem to be targeting any particular socio-economic or age range, Detective Sergeant Taylor said Australians were particularly vulnerable.

"Australians are generally gullible targets," he said. "(The scammers) do very well out of us."

No particular mobile network was being targeted, he said.

LNK
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