Some Spokane County residents are receiving “disturbing” messages asking them to pay fees to spare their own lives, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release.

“Don’t fall for it,” the release said.

The texts are scams meant to extort the text recipient’s money, the release said.

An example of an unsolicited text begins, “I’m very sorry for you,” before naming the text recipient. The sender claims they were hired to kill the text recipient and has their “boys” monitoring the text receiver.

“Someone wants you Dead (sic) by all means,” the text says. “Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE?”

The phony assassin says they have discovered that “you are innocent” and offers the text recipient a chance to spare their life by paying a fee.

Scammers often use fear and intimidation to con people out of their money, according to the release, and they are often “tech-savvy” and based outside of the United States.

Law enforcement officials warn not to respond to the messages, and say instead to report suspicious messages to the Federal Trade Commission online or by calling Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.