E-mail carries death threat from supposed hitman

Several IU students, faculty and staff members received a threatening spam e-mail last week from a hijacked IU account, according to an IU Police Department statement.\nThe e-mail, which was sent from an account with a user name registered to an undergraduate student, claimed to be from a person who was hired to murder the recipient. The message’s sender said the murder could be avoided if the recipient paid $8,000.\nThe e-mail opened with the statement, “This is the only way I could contact you for now, I want you to be very careful about this and keep this secret with you for now. You have no need of knowing who I am or where I am from.” \nThe e-mail stated numerous times not to contact the police. \nThe University Information Technology Services IT Security Office is investigating the security breach, said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger.\nWhen the security office learned of the break-in, it terminated the IU account that sent the message.