A new scam cropping up in e-mail boxes is preying on Seattle residents, say Seattle Police. The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December, threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, who purports to be a hired assassin.

The extortion scam does not appear to target anyone specifically and we have not received any reports of money loss or threats carried out.

Police are advising citizens that this is a hoax. Do not engage the sender as this signals to the sender that they've reached a live account. The best defense is to protect your personal information as best you can and to delete unopened, unsolicited spam e-mail.

People with additional questions or comments about this or any Internet scam they may go to IC3.gov, which is the Internet Crimes Complaint Center.