New scam tells victims hit men have been hired to kill them

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- We've heard so much about Internet scams that try to trick you into sending money to a thief. Now, a more frightening kind of scam is spreading across the globe and hit at least one Bay Area resident.

This scam is what police call a new low, even for the lowest con artists. The perpetrators strike fear into the hearts of those they target. And when a San Francisco man received a scary email, he came to us wondering if he should fear for his life.

Rick Scott was casually scrolling through his emails when one knocked him for a loop.

"There was a contract out on my life and then I was going to die instantly," he said.

The email said Rick's life was in danger and someone he knew hired a hit man to kill him.

He says the email reads, "This is how your life is going to come to an end as your death has already been paid for by someone who is very close to you."

"My initial reaction was that it was some type of a scam," said Rick.

Then he read it out loud to a friend, and a chill came over him.

"This really is spooky," he said. "As the day progressed I became more spooked by it."

It also offered Rick a way to save his life saying: "You have the chance to live if only you will comply with me."

Rick says the email went onto say, "You need to stay calm and act unaware of this situation and follow instructions."

He figured it was probably a fake threat. And yet, he couldn't be sure.

"You don't know," he said. "And that's the spooky part of it -- you don't know."

Was he a lone target? He came to 7 On Your Side, asking if others had received the same threat.

"It's very important that people report this incident to police because no one knows if it's going to happen, or not," said SFPD Officer Albie Esparza. "It's always better to be safe than sorry."

The San Francisco Police Department spokesperson tells us any death threat should be taken seriously. However, he said this is probably an attempt to extort money through fear.

"It's very terrifying," Esparza said. "And that's the point, to install fear so they can obtain whatever it is they want to obtain. In this case there was a follow-up with a demand for money."

"If I was the only person that would make it super spooky," Rick said.

And he isn't alone. An Internet search found victims around the world had reported similar death threats by email and text messages.

Just another Internet scam? That's good news to Rick. He's almost ready to laugh it off.

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"I asked a few people in a joking way -- do you by any chance want me dead?" Rick said with a chuckle.

Rick decided not to respond to the threat.

Police tell us in this kind of scam, the con artist will ask for a lot of money to supposedly spare your life. And some victims are frightened enough to pay it.

If you get a threatening email, don't respond. But do report it to police. Rick did that and now San Francisco police are investigating.