A security guard to the stars was shocked to receive a 'scary' WhatsApp threat from an 'assassin' warning he'll be shot in the head unless he pays £750 before 'sundown' - with the incident reportedly leaving his pal Ryan Giggs in stitches. Darren Webb says he was left in 'nervous laughter' when he got the alarming message from an unknown number while on shift at Hotel Football, Greater Manchester.
The bizarre threat, shared by the 50-year-old on Twitter, claims the sender is an 'assassin from Blue Den' and Darren's life is 'on the list to be killed in under 48 hours'. It goes on to warn 'if you don't want to die your [sic] to pay $1,000 [£750] before sun down or you'll be shot in the head', and then ends eerily with 'reply if you're ready to live… ignore and die'.
Darren says he's 'never received a threat like it' in all his years as a security guard, including protecting former Manchester United footballers Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs at the hotel - the latter of which he claims was left 'laughing' at the ridiculous threat. The 50-year-old jokes he's been 'looking over his shoulder' on dog walks but believes it's an intense scam aiming to scare people into sending the mystery 'assassin' money.
Darren, from Salford, Greater Manchester, said: "Even though I laughed, I was a bit nervy. It was a bit of a shock. I've never had anything like this from work. I've had people saying 'if you don't let me in your place you're going to get it', but that's about it.
"I got it on Friday and I'm still here today. We live to fight another day. I'm looking over my shoulder to see if he's about, but he must be in America. Too far away to hurt me. They haven't sent a message since. It's an American number and I've got a load of friends over there, but I don't think anyone would pass it around for a joke like that.
"If it hadn't been an American number I'd have been more wary. The wording of 'if you don't reply, you'll die' made me laugh. I showed Giggsy and he started laughing too. It must be a mad scam, but it's the world we live in at the moment. He's clearly spent some time on it. He's had a good go.
"A lot of people have replied to it and said 'send us your bank details'. It was so scary that people might fall for it. I'm that tight. I look under the bed in the morning to see if I've lost any sleep, so he was picking on the wrong guy for that."
Dad-of-three Darren says he's been waiting for a follow-up text from the US-based number and was disappointed there wasn't a countdown or a note to ask why he ignored the threat. His Tweet, jokingly captioned 'nice knowing you all, folks', has been liked more than 1,000 times, with users laughing at the 'scary' scam and joking Darren should 'wear a helmet'.
