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Sweet Revenge On Nigerian Scammers

Posted by timothy on from the and-throw-away-the-key dept.

davesag writes "I just came across this fine site, 419Eater, wherin people counter scam the Nigerian 419 scammers that have been plaguing our spam filters for the past few years. The UK paper The Guardian is also running a fine article on this site. The site author, and several other contributors, have taken to responding to the scammers, using obviously fake names and so forth, and then string the scammer along for as long as possible. In many cases they get the scammer to pose for a photograph! Amazingly the scammers are just as gullible and greedy as their typical victims, and fall for the most obvious ruses hook, line, and sinker. 419eater welcomes contributors, so if you ever wanted to get your sweet revenge on these low-lives, here's a channel for you. The 419 refers to the section of the Nigerian criminal code under which such scams fall." We've linked to a few such fraud-baiters before, though few with as amusing a photograph.

5 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Funny... but be careful! by kneecarrot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just a friendly reminder to everyone that the criminals behind the Nigerian scam emails are just that -- criminals. There have been several murders involving those who have become involved with the scammers. Granted, these are people who went to meet with them foreign locales with pockets full of money. However, this is definitely a "better safe than sorry" scenario. If you really must contact these people for pestering purposes, guard your information carefully.

    --

    I always save my last mod point to mod up a good troll. You people are too serious.

    1. Re:Funny... but be careful! by MidnightBrewer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Someone willing to commit fraud is not automatically capable of murder.

      Considering that the great majority of computer users on the web probably pirate software, music, and other forms of media every day, that makes us all criminals (at least, according to the RIAA.) Do you feel like killing anybody?

      --
      "Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
  2. What revenge? by mabu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm amused that people think they're getting any sort of revenge against these people. When you can milk them out of US$19M then you have revenge, otherwise it seems to me the scammers are still winning as the time anyone spends to string along these people is not worth it.

    This is one of the few scams that I actually don't mind, as anyone foolish enough to think they're going to get millions of dollars in some sort of spontaneous money-laundering scheme, deserves to be penalized for their naivety and perverse sense of greed.

  3. Wouldn't do that myself by GauteL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These are rather unscrupulous people, and if they realize they have been played like this, they may very well try to get some sort of revenge that is less funny than these photographs.

    Personally I would just stay clear of them completely. Making fun of hard core criminals is not always that funny in the end.

    1. Re:Wouldn't do that myself by AzureLunatic · · Score: 5, Insightful
      If one's communicating with these scammers using one's most common e-mail address, and one has a significant web presence and hasn't always been careful about leaving personal information elsewhere, it's conceivable that someone with a grudge and a lot of time on their hands could do something interesting.

      For example, if someone were to Google my primary e-mail address, they could very well come up with a page that contains my real first and last name. With some of the information on that page, they could track me all over the web, where I've left my original hometown, the city I live in and the general area in that that I'm in now, and the school I attend. They could also find out who some of my online friends are, and could perhaps social engineer more information out of them. All of this is information that I wouldn't want shady characters getting their paws on.

      Even though my e-mail address cannot itself be traced to a specific location, I would definitely recommend using a brand-new address if playing with scammers' heads.