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The 419eater Community Pulls Some Legs
trusteR writes "Always in the pursuit to rid the world of
419 scams with new and often very entertaining strategies, the class of 419eater.com
have set new records in making scambaiting an entertaining and funny artform. Shipping ANUS laptops, $$$, Death treats, Audio and lots of pictures." This beats the amusement value of a Captain Kirk passport; the scam-baiters here managed to get cash in the mail and get rid of some less-than-perfect hardware.
I wouldn't worry too much about some scammer from Lagos challenging the payment in a US court. Those who come to the courts with unclean hands seldom get any relief.
Even if the scammer did arrive, how does one demonstrate that the goods shipped were not in fact what was ordered in such a way as to convice a court that your scamming activities are minor enough by comparison as to give you relief?
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
Not realy, for the same reason that fraud is aparintly legal in the countries where most of these 419 scams. If the local government isn't doing anything to stop the 419ers because (as they claim) they can't then complain about this "turn about is fair play" stuff. I guess the 419er COULD try and press charges in the US (that would be funny) but so long as the guy sends the box o' stuff via UPS rather then USPS no mail fraud has taken place.
That having been said, I think all parties in this are jerks.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Servers just succumbed to the /.ing. From what I read, guy packed 200 pounds of dead hardware in boxes and made the guy pre-pay for shipping. He put a value on the packages for 9500 bucks, which means the poor scammer at the other end will have to pay import fees or something along those lines.
Interesting note in the forum thread, for every 30lbs it is costing this guy $475. Funny stuff. He does have a picture of the 200 in cash.
While I don't mind a scammer getting karma-lized, I have to wonder about the whole procedure. Of course, the legality of the scammar isn't the question, but rather the legality of the counter-scammer. This sounds about the same as the P-p-powerbook (which I'm sure everyone remembers): Sending false goods, misappropiating funds, etc. However, for any charges to be pressed, it will have (had) to be intercepted by federal agents and seen for what it is, or the scammar will have to spill the beans. Both cases are very unlikely, so the counter-scammar is probably safe.
However, I suggest against going this far in the future. Keeping the guy going with fake e-mails is probably fine and well, but when you start with the exchange of funds or goods (sic), where is the line drawn that the counter-scammer doesn't become a scammer himself?
The old saws still apply:
If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
Proverbs 21:19
How about the fact that innocent victims are not being harmed? Old ladies are not being scammed out of their retirement funds. Only those that have shown a desire to scam others are being scammed here. While the legality is questionable, I certainly am not bothered by it.
And... you get to the second page how?
If I'm a con artist, I would love it if every mark thought he was going to turn the tables on me. Makes my job all the easier.
TANSTAAFL, people. Reality is not nearly as exciting as delusion. But it's a lot more reliable.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
what's really funny is you gor an insightful mod!
-nB
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The 419 guys do not travel here to go to court for God's sake. What are they going to say? "While working my daily scam stealing from your citizes, I got ripped off for $200"?
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