The Canton Police have received three reports of a threatening letter being placed in victim’s mailboxes which attempt to extort $3,000 dollars.  The suspects portray themselves as “having a limited time to live”, and need money in order to make their short lives more enjoyable.

They threaten to damage or destroy not only the victim’s property, but also property belonging to surrounding businesses and neighbors.  The letter warns not to contact police and gives the victim’s three choices:

1.  Loan them the money

2.  Refuse to pay – suffer the consequences

3.  Refuse to pay and call the police – this option threatens to “triple” the damage.

The letter warns they will just wait out the police because the police can not cover “ALL the neighbors, friends, work and shopping centers at once”.  All the police can do, is catch the puppets and not the ring leaders themselves.

They then provide the victim with two balloons; instructing them to leave one balloon by the main road and one balloon on their property near the street with in sight.

This is a money extortion scam which is occurring in other bordering cities and has now made its way to Canton.  This is an outrageous attempt to extort money from fearful victims.  The Canton Police Department is actively investigating the reported attempts to extort monies from our residents.  A copy of the letter is attached for your review.