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SMS Hoax Message Threatens Death

A message threatening death unless the recipient pays a large sum of money has been sent to thousands of Australians. It reads “Someone paid me to kill you. Get spared. 48 hours to pay $5000. If you inform the police or anybody, death is promised.” The message was sent by SMS and e-mail.

Police across the country are investigating, but claim the message is a hoax. They believe it was generated from outside Australia.

Recipients have been advised to remain calm. "The best thing to do is delete the message, don't pay any money, it's really not something to contact police about,” says Susan Usher, a spokesperson for the West Australian Police.

Shane, a Melbourne based recipient of the message, has already taken this to heart. A recipient of many spam messages, he says “usually when I get a message from an unknown number I don't take it too seriously.” Upon receiving the message he took a photo and uploaded it to Facebook.

“It's really sad that people are out there performing these terrible deeds," Mark, another recipient, says.

Local police stations and the emergency police line have received numerous calls regarding the message, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s SCAMwatch website has received approximately one hundred reports.

SCAMwatch says that the scammer may also ask after personal details. The website advises to ignore this “as your identity may be compromised, and you may risk being a victim of identity theft.”

Some recipients of the message have already fallen victim to the hoax according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Recipients looking for further information have been advised to contact the Department of Commerce.