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Scambaiting Gets Comical; Internet Scammers All Dressed Up
Nurse Nasty writes "Scambaiting is a fun and relaxing full-contact email sport. It's all about baiting Internet and email scammers into exposing themselves and sharing that humiliation with the entire world. Recently I baited four different groups of Internet scammers into being comic book action super-heroes, and then giving them their own 10-page graphic novel. It's a bit of fun and eduction through entertainment." (Warning: The comic contains a bit of naughty language.)
Tobacco? You're out of date and out of touch. 3 decades ago, tobacco was one of the biggest scams in the US. Today? Not much. They deliver precisely what they say, without being overly hyped. Scam? They tell you right on the package, "This shit can kill you!" How is that a scam?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/scam
scam [skæm] Slang
n
a stratagem for gain; a swindle
vb scams, scamming, scammed
(tr) to swindle (someone) by means of a trick
My recommendation for you, is reading comprehension 101. Somewhere, you've failed.
Today, the biggest scams involve the defense industry, diet foods and drinks, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and the "War on Terra" along with the "War on Drugs". Please, don't allow your obsessive/compulsive hatred of tobacco confuse you.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
As a retired scambaiter, I'd like to address a few issues.
They're technically breaking their local law by running these scams... but they're one of the leading industries so the government can't afford to shut them down.
Actually, it's more about the culture. The government does take action against the scammers but a large part of the population supports them since, sadly, their culture is such that it's admirable, if you can earn (lots of) money without working. It is a sign of being smart and that's why scammers are sometimes referred to as "sharp men".
Since there's no hope you finding them if you go there so they feel safe from you, and certainty that they'd be arrested if they come here so you're safe from them finding you... let the fun and games begin.
Another mistake. The Nigerian scammers operate all over the world and in particular in Bangkok, Berlin, Amsterdam, Houston and London. Quite a few times, we have been able to supply the local police with information, which has lead to arrests and a couple of times, a local scambaiter has had the opportunity to come along. Photographs from arrests have been more satisfying than any of these "trophies". I'm not familiar with other forms of "vigilante justice" (if that's what scambaiting should be called) but I do think that the extent of cooperation we've gotten from the police is quite remarkable.
Whilst this is the funny side of baiting and the one which attracts publicity to these scams (which is one reason why we do this), there is a much more serious side to it as well but fewer baiters are involved with that.