Two weeks ago, a rash of death threats were sent to a number of Lancaster County real estate agents.

While most dismissed them for what they were — phony e-mails in an attempt to get money — some said they found the computer messages to be disconcerting and even "scary."

Today, Manheim Township Police said that law enforcement was able to trace the e-mails, and it turned out to be just as they predicted: phony and from out of the country.

"Through search warrants and with the cooperation of Yahoo," a computer search engine company, "it was determined that the e-mails originated in Nigeria," said township police spokesman Sgt. Tom Rudzinski.

"The senders have not been identified, but the investigation remains open. The victims have been notified of the findings. It does not appear that this is anything more than an attempt to scam money," Rudzinski said.

Rudzinski repeated what others in law enforcement are continually reminding people:

"Please be careful when responding to any unsolicited e-mails, especially those that are requesting that you send money — no matter the reason. Requests to send money outside of the United States should not be trusted."

"Once the money leaves the country," Rudzinski said, "it will be nearly impossible to track it or get it back."

A number of local real estate agents reportedly received the e-mails two weeks ago, which happened to coincide with Valentine's Day, describing the correspondence as "just hateful."

One woman was alone in the office at night when she read the threat, calling her boss because she was frightened.

"It's scary," Rudzinski said at the time, "very scary."

The message writer said he had been hired to kill the person and their families unless they paid thousands of dollars to prevent it.

"It's disconcerting and deserves an in-depth investigation, but it's another version of the same-old, same-old scheme to get money...It's an awful prank," Rudzinski said.

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