To Scam a Scammer
It is just so satisfying to hear stories about people scamming scammers. I can’t tell you how many “Nigerian” scammers have sent me email; it’s hard to believe that anyone still falls for that anymore, it’s now a cliche like buying the Brooklyn Bridge. That, along with winning European Lotteries and security alerts from eBay.
But apparently they still work, and there for some years now has been a subculture of people who spend a great deal of time annoying these scammers. Based upon the principle that it is easy to manipulate someone who is greedy (the very same principles the scammers themselves operate under), a number of productive citizens have become quite adept at leading the scammers through quite the merry ride by acting like potential dupes. They build up creative scenarios where they promise to fall into the scammers schemes, but first need this assurance or that precondition. Like, you must be a member of my church before I trust you; the scammer eagerly says they want to join, and then is made to jump through hoops, like painting their bodies in ridiculous ways and then emailing the photographs. Some scammers were even made to take long journeys to pick up the case, which never materialized–one going to Heathrow Airport, told to make himself recognizable by holding his black backpack close to his chest, which of course got him in trouble with security.
If you only have a short time to be entertained by such tales, read this recent article in Ars Technica. If you have more time, go directly to the “419eater” web site, where there are many full transcripts of emails sent back and forth to bait the scammers, complete with commentary and photographs of the scammers making fools of themselves.
While I agree with those who question the ethics of sending the scammers on voyages which potentially threaten their safety, everything short of that is kosher, as far as I am concerned. The point is made in the Ars article: the scam baiters are drawing the scammers away from real victims, wasting their time and resources and hopefully making it more difficult for the scammers to successfully defraud others. In the best-case scenario, the scammers get fed up and and give up.
By the way, sorry to have taken such a long break from blogging. I’ll be back more frequently now.
Even setting aside the pecularly racist character that’s all over the 419eaters site, I see plenty that’s not kosher. If our self-appointed avengers were able to con the scammers directly into the hands of law enforcement, it would be just as effective to waste the spammers’ time and resources. Anything beyond that is venturing into Lynndie England territory.
The problem is, law enforcement is not really doing their job here. There is nothing whatsoever preventing law enforcement types from acting on the scams just like the anti-scammers are. So, why aren’t they? That’s the answer. They can’t be bothered until after someone has been genuinely hurt. It is likely that they have decided that they have better things to focus their resources on, or else there are legal elements that keep them from acting. But the anti-scammers can’t be blamed for this.
As for the Lynndie England analogy, that goes way too far. The scammers are not being held prisoner. They choose, freely, to do the crazy stuff the 419eaters ask them to do.