Ignore death-threat email

23 February 2012

Internal Affairs is warning the public to ignore a death-threat email that is again doing the rounds.

Senior Investigator, Mr Toni Demetriou, says the Anti-Spam Compliance Unit has recently received several complaints about a threatening email that people have received from a ‘contract killer’.

“He demands $5000 to prevent ‘his boys’ carrying out the killing and warns the recipient not to go to the police,” Mr Demetriou said. “This is clearly a hoax scam designed to play on people’s fears and extract money from them.

“We were contacted about a similar scam five years ago and then there was nothing further until last November and now several people have contacted us in recent weeks. It’s also been reported around the world. We always encourage recipients to complain to Internal Affairs regarding any spam email they receive and then delete it. With this email people should just ignore it and delete it.”

The email is signed by Abdulla Azzam and is addressed to ‘undisclosed recipients’.

Mr Demetriou said this is just one of many scams circulating and people can learn more about them from the Department’s website. The Department also uses Twitter to alert the public to the latest press releases and other information to help them be wary of scammers and their constantly evolving tactics.

Media contact:
Trevor Henry, senior communications adviser, Department of Internal Affairs
Ph 04 495 7211; cell 0275 843 679