You’re going about your normal ordinary day, thinking that nothing could possibly go wrong. You then get an email or text message notification from an unknown person, with the subject line reading “Live or Die” and your heart skips a beat, confused as to why you received such a message. You open the message, and it only frightens you more when the message reads that they were hired to murder you, and will do so if you don’t give them money. More people are scammed with these types of messages more than you think, and send money out of fear thinking there are no other options. At Social Catfish, we show you that these scammers are not actually going to harm you, and how to deal with the hitman scam if you receive these types of messages.

How the Hitman Scam Works

Scammers send out extortion emails and text messages to random people, pretending to be hitmen that were hired to kill you. They state that a random family member or friend hired them to “get rid of you,” but they offer to spare your life. However, the only way your life will be spared is if you send them thousands of dollars via CashApp, PayPal, gift cards, or another payment method.

They tell you that they are watching you, and will kill you instantly if you report them to the police. They also warn you not to tell your family members or friends, since according to the scammer, one of them hired you which isn’t true.

What they don’t want you to know is that these phishing emails are sent out in bulk, making it impossible for them to actually keep tabs on you. All they are trying to do is scare you out of draining your bank accounts, and steal all your money. No one is going to kill you if you call the police or tell a family member or friend about what happened. It’s all just a show so that you feel like you’re trapped into giving them money.

How to Avoid the Hitman Scam

• Don’t give the scammers any money. They will know that you fell for their scam and pressure you into giving them more money.
• Don’t reply to the threatening email or text message. According to the FBI, this is the best way to handle the hitman scam. This will allow them to spam you with even more threats until they finally scare you into sending them money.
• Contact the police immediately. They might be able to track down the scammer’s information to see who is scamming you, and inform others of this type of scam going around.
• Don’t give the scammer any of your personal information. With your personal information, they can commit identity theft and pretend to be you to obtain all of your money.

And Lastly… Reverse Search the Information of the Scammer with Social Catfish

At Social Catfish, we want to help you verify the identities of those who have scammed you. If you have their name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image, you can reverse search and see who the scammer was that you’ve been in contact with when dealing with this hitman scam.

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