New death threat scam shows up in NE Mo.

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) - Northeast Missouri authorities say scammers are trying to convince people they must pay money so they won't become the target of a murder-for-hire plot.

The Hannibal Courier-Post reports that the scam starts with an email, warning the recipient that a murder contract has been issued. But the email says the "hit man" will ignore the contract if the target pays a certain amount of money.

Detective Tyler Wheeler of the Marion County Sheriff's Department describes the ruse as "a real sick way of scamming people."

Wheeler says the email threats appeared in the county for the first time Friday. He says scammers sought to collect about $8,000.

Authorities determined that the threatening emails originated overseas.