Some people have been receiving threatening SMS’s on their phones. The messages include death threats and it seems they’re a part of a money laundering scam. A typical message is:
I am about to kill you. If you want to live, contact (hbko@pobox.sk) to get information on what you will have to do to live. If you ignore this message, you will die!
This particular SMS came from the number 856 207 580 237.
If you reply and contact the sender they ask you for money (up to $10,000). They use all the typical scam tactics like asking you to pay a legal fee and a processing fee.
Investigators have tracked the senders to Laos and Slovakia. Hopefully the senders are caught soon.
If you receive an SMS like the one above don’t reply to it. You can either delete it or report it to a local authority if you’re concerned (e.g. your local police). Remember that it’s just a scam.