Scam-Baiting
I read an article in The Atlantic today about a new tack taken with scammers – you know, that Prince’s widow from Nigeria who needs you to transfer some money. It’s called scam-baiting. Instead of deleting these messages or worse, being taken in by them, folks are seeking them out. Why? It’s an attempt to engage the scammer and suck him/her into a different type of scam – one that wastes time and energy. Some of these scam-baiters have elaborate tactics – one dude had his scammer carve a Commodore 64 computer out of wood, and then airmail it to the US – for a fictitious art competition. Another had a “dying” scammer carve a wooden bust for an art scholarship, only to lose it when the scammer sealed an African squirrel in the box with the bust, thus chewing holes all through it (and no, there was no squirrel, but Photoshop made it true). (The “dying scammer, by the way, is still alive and apparently doing quite well despite his contention in his initial email that he was on death’s door)

Some are less elaborate – photos of the scammers holding signs that have nasty sayings on them like “I like sailors” or “I need a vaginal prosthesis.” The idea is to keep scammers busy running down false trails to divert them away from scamming.

One website – 419eater.com – is devoted to the “art” of scam-baiting. Some of these ruses are quite detailed, which makes me wonder just how much time these guys have on their hands.

It draws you into an ethical dilemma you didn’t see coming – these thieves, who are after your money, are made to look like complete fools. Most are unaware of it. Others catch on and let loose on their scam-baiters.

Visit the site. Tell me what you think. It’s intriguing reading, to be sure.