A different kind of scam is now swarming in e-mail boxes. These e-mails are focusing neither on recipient's good intentions nor greed but fear. The latest scam e-mail, threatens to kill recipients if they do not give thousands of dollars to the sender, who claims to be a hired assassin.

About 115 complaints have been filed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) since the scam emerged, said special agent John Hambrick, who heads IC3. He said the extortion scam does not appear to target anyone specifically and that IC3 has not received any reports of money loss or threats carried out. "This is a hoax, so do yourself a favor and don't respond," Hambrick said. Replying to the e-mails just sends a signal to senders that they've reached a live account. It also escalates the intimidation, Hambrick said.

There was a reported e-mail with this ultimatum: "TELL ME NOW ARE YOU READY TO DO WHAT I SAID OR DO YOU WANT ME TO PROCEED WITH MY JOB? ANSWER YES/NO AND DON'T ASK ANY QUESTIONS!!!"

Bill Shore, a special agent who supervises the computer crime squad in the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, said recipients should not be overly spooked when scammers incorporate their intended victims' personal details in their schemes. "Personal information is widely available," he said. "Even if a person does not use the Internet or own a computer, they could still be the victim of a computer crime such as identity theft."

Another scam e-mail in December stated: "I have followed you closely for one week and three days now ... Do not contact the police or F.B.I. or try to send a copy of this to them, because if you do I will know, and might be pushed to do what I have being (sic) paid to do."

The scams, agent Shore said, "are an opportunity to raise awareness about Internet fraud." The best defense is to protect your personal information as best you can and to delete-unopened-unsolicited spam e-mail.