A few years back, I was a scam baiter: if someone was trying to scam me through email, I'd write back, stringing them on. And much hilarity ensued.You can see a page of some of my best baits at [scifibeer.com]
The enclosed photos: #1 is an mage I cobbled for a Nigerian scammer that wanted a $5000 advance fee (419 is the Nigerian criminal code for fraud). He did not get the joke. #2 is an image a mugu put together to convince me he had millions of dollars from Gaddafi. This has to be the most perfect Photoshop job I have ever seen.
(I responded to that lad by saying I was a personal friend of Gaddafi, and I was real, real sorry he got a knife up his ass).
I subscribe to a service that gives me statistics on my website. And, sure enough,I have more than a few Nigerians who go to that page..Are they Nigerian law enforcement? Are they mugus trying to learn what NOT do? Alas, I'll never know.
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4 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Romance scammers try to con me all the time. I'm not a "texting fan" so they don't get very far. If I cannot talk to you in real time on a phone it means you are not real. I do not have "hangouts" that I go to, etc.
Years ago when it was all done with letters I was drawn into something that proved to be a setup in the end. I had agged it on by playing along. Only at the last did I find out it was a scam to buy a graveside plot and actually involved Scientologists. I was furious!
DenoPenno
Level 9
Mar 8, 2018
0
I had a romance scammer try to con me. Thankfully, I was smart enough to spot it, so he didn't get anything. I may have been lonely, but stupid I was not.
We met on a singles website. He told me that he was Italian, but had grown up all over, with most of his teen and adult years spent in the US. He said he was a petrochemical engineer. After we had been talking a while, he told me that he was going off to Dubai on business, but that he loved me, and after he got back, we could start planning our wedding (big red lights and alarm bells here). We talked on the phone, but his accent was odd. Not Italian at all. No American to it.
Anyway, while he was in 'Dubai', he messaged me and told me there had been a problem with the bank, and he needed my help (the lights got redder, the alarms got louder). He said that he needed my bank details so his uncle in America could desposit money into my account, and I could transfer it to him.
I decided to have fun with him. I told him that my account was a joint account with my best friend, and I would have to talk to him about it first. The guy panicked, and kept telling me not to. Then I told him that a blizzard had hit, and I couldn't get to my best friend's house to get my check book with my routing number, etc. He told me that if I didn't help him soon, they would put him in jail. I said "Good. Then maybe youy'll stop scamming women for a while", and blocked him.
Ori89
Level 4
Mar 6, 2018
0
I can never be bothered properly stringing them along. I've had some fun conversations with ones who've claimed to be local, discussing fictional places. Wasted a few hours of their time when I've been bored. It's never gone as far as them asking for money.
NicoleCadmium
Level 7
Mar 6, 2018
1
I stopped scam baiting because they're all so much alike. Basically, a scammer is someone who can't get a real job. Generally, they're uneducated. It's kind of like fooling a child. With one scammer, I sent them a fake newspaper article, discussing how Perry Mason defended Eric Cartman from a charge that he had dildo cudgeled Ronald McDonald to death. Humor is lost on them. Any kind of intelligent banter is lost on them.And there's always more and more of them.
I don't think English is typically their first language. You wouldn't get Facebook profiles named "Smith Bob" if it was. The pictures and much of the text will be copied and pasted. They know just about enough English to get by with the conversation that ensues, but it isn't surprising that they don't tune into humour or cultural references.
Scamming foreigners seems to be considered a legitimate business enterprise in some places. The electronics shops on Tenerife that will display a branded digital camera silly cheap, but when you try to buy it, try to palm you off with 'something better' that's a brand you've never heard of. And of course the restaurants in Venice that are charging people the best part of $1000 for lunch.
You could become one of my heroes.
I hate scammers, and I love destroying them, when they ring me I waste their time, lead them on, wish I could do more.
Rugglesby
Level 8
Mar 6, 2018
1
What I like about scam baiting is that no matter how you do it, you're one of the white knights. Anything that wastes their time is good. Look up "freight bait" on google. Scammers send fake checks to people, and they get back huge, heavy, expensive to ship cases full of broken laptops, used toilets, or really anything that weighs a lot and has no value. I got out of scam baiting because the scammers started melting together. They're all incredibly stupid, and even if you're doing good, making fun of stupid people gets old.
Enjoy being online again!
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