District judge warns of email scam
A Washington County district judge is warning about an email scam that attempts to extort money in exchange for not carrying through with a “hit” that supposedly has been arranged.
District Judge Gary Havelka, whose office covers Burgettstown and Midway boroughs and Cross Creek, Hanover, Jefferson and Smith townships, received the email in his personal email account earlier this week.
The email reads, in part, “I’ve got an order to remove you because your activity causes trouble to several people.” The email includes a link to Google, where the recipient is to send $2,200. It indicates that Bitcoin is accepted.
“I strongly do not recommend you to call the authorities or make any other mistakes before that,” the email reads. “You only have three days to decide.”
Havelka said once the money was received, he supposedly would be sent information on who ordered the hit.
The judge said he was taken aback when he first got the email.
“My first reaction was ‘Whoa!’ as I read it,” Havelka said. “Then I went back over it and started to process it rationally.”
Havelka had the email checked, and it was determined to have come from Russia. He also learned that a police department in Oklahoma was investigating a similar threat made by email last month.
Havelka, who is president of Washington County Association of Special Court Judges, notified the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts as a precaution, even though the email was not sent to his county email account. He also alerted Smith Township police and other police departments.
Havelka also went to Burgettstown Senior Center to alert the members.
“I talked to a good many of them and let them know what was going on,” Havelka said. “I didn’t want them to get this email and have someone extort money from them.”