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.)

Comments

My lovely dear

[palegray.net]

I am intrigued by your offer, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Before I do so, I must inform you that I am the deposed son of a deceased diplomat, and I would like to enlist your aid in moving the sum of $12 million out of my country from a secret account. Please reply (and subscribe me to) dearlyloaded@hotmail.com. Yours in Faith, Balatruyiah Malkorurtink

Re:My lovely dear

[symes]

God bless you dearest Balatruyiah - my fellow church members and I are delighted to help someone so neady at their time of greatest nead. I will send our account information as soon as you can confirm you are wearing the needed stockings, suspenders and rubber chicken. When you take the photos please do ensure you have "humped in heaven" written across your brow so we know it's you.

Re:My lovely dear

[Opportunist]

You're REALLY asking for it, aren't you?

Get dressed, you know what the man wants to see! I suggest something simple for a change, a tuxedo, black tie, top hat. Your superhero name will be "Prez's grave digger".

419 Scams are named for their law they break

[LostCluster]

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. 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.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[phonewebcam]

An obvious scam the government can't afford to shut down because of the taxes it brings in? We have one of those too ... its called the tobacco industry.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[JaredOfEuropa]

While it appears that for some reason this scene is dominated by Nigerian scammers, they don't always operate out of their own country. Amsterdam and London are popular bases for these scammers and they get arrested there all the time, sometimes with the help of Nigerian police. Amsterdam cops bust 419 ring, arrest 52

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Since there's no hope you finding them if you go there so they feel safe from you,

Seems to me that the most succesful of the scammers - the ones that you hear about once or twice a year fooling some sucker into sending hundreds of thousands of dollars ought to be very concerned because it should be comparatively cheap to higher a couple of soldier-of-fortune types to go hunt them down and extract some of that money or a few pounds of flesh. The trick is make sure your soldier-of-fortune types aren't just scammers of another breed themselves...

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention that giant ponzi scheme commonly referred to as "The banking industry."

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[tburkhol]

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.

The scammers are breaking the law in most countries. The moniker "419" refers to a section of the Nigerian fraud code which basically says it's OK to scam a scammer. This allows the scammer to trick the victim into a minor fraud, such as claiming to be a friend or relative of a deposed Nigerian finance minister, or providing bribe money, and thus make the scammer immune to civil or criminal prosecution.

Ob-wikilink

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

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.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Opportunist]

Mostly they're just the "executive" branch of the op. They're there to cash in the Western Union transfers and do other errands. They're the ones that are most exposed and thus easiest to catch.

It's a bit like cashing in the street dealers and calling it a major sting against organized drug crime...

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Tolkien]

The tobacco industry actively argues against the fact that their products cause cancer despite the warnings they are legally obligated to place on the packaging. The only reason I don't believe it's a scam is because the government has regulated the hell out of it instead of shutting it down.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Scrameustache]

with the "War on Drugs". Please, don't allow your obsessive/compulsive hatred of tobacco confuse you.

Tobacco should be a schedule I drug, everyone who posses the tiniest amount ought to feel the full wrath of the war on drugs brought down on them. But they don't, because of the scam.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[easyTree]

If you are in the UK and you think you know different, I need a decent comms contract pre-paid

Try Vodafone's sim-only rolling 30-day contracts... (ensure that 'pay monthly' and '30 days' (only) are checked)

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

Horse Shit.

There should be no schedule 1 drugs, or schedule 2, or any other schedule. Prohibition gained this country nothing but rum-runners and armed gangs in the 1920's, and the war on drugs has gained us the same thing since the 1940's. Prohibition is for morons, fools, and zealots - and there is no proven method to separate the groups.

Prohibition has not only killed tens of thousands of American citizens, it is today killing thousands of Mexican citizens, and destroying the poor excuse for a government that they enjoy.

Legalize and/or decriminalize drugs, let the potheads and crack addicts have all they want. Can't you hear Darwin? "Those fools have nothing to offer society anyway - let them kill themselves!"

If John Q. wants to blow 10 kilos of cocaine, LET HIM!! It's his right to die from an overdose if that's what he wants to do. Stop wasting resources on keeping him alive, just so we can persecute him for being a coke fiend!

As for my caffeine and nicotine addictions, I'll deal with them myself, in my own good time. I'll stop smoking some day. Probably the day the doctor pronounces me dead. And, it's none of YOUR business.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Scrameustache]

There should be no schedule 1 drugs, or schedule 2, or any other schedule. Prohibition gained this country nothing but rum-runners and armed gangs in the 1920's, and the war on drugs has gained us the same thing since the 1940's. Prohibition is for morons, fools, and zealots - and there is no proven method to separate the groups.

Well I agree with that, but as long as there is a schedule I, tobacco fits the bill and it should be on that list, but it isn't, and that's a scam.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Strep]

Prohibition got us years and years of Kennedys.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Strep]

Interestingly, the same scam is coded 420 by the Indian Penal system. Additionally interestingly, a hit bollywood movie is called "420".

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[easyTree]

How about the obvious "get yourself a debit card" ?

Really; debit cards are your friend..

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Taxman415a]

As for my caffeine and nicotine addictions, I'll deal with them myself, in my own good time. I'll stop smoking some day. Probably the day the doctor pronounces me dead. And, it's none of YOUR business.

It wouldn't be any of my business if I didn't have to pay more for your health care because of your choices. If you paid enough more for your health care than the people that make better choices then it wouldn't be anyone's business. But you don't, so it is. That's the real problem with the just let the morons do all the blow they want to attitude. They end up in the ER (because they typically have no health insurance) or killing unrelated people in traffic accidents or whatever. Those both represent large costs to people that avoid the behavior. It doesn't matter if the drugs are cheaper from making them legal, they still cost something and people that are addicted will still do whatever they need to to get more including crime and murder. Your argument would have been stronger if you could make a cohesive case for there being less crime and costs on a total picture basis, but you didn't bother with that. Also, your darwinian argument would be better if people tended to die quickly on drugs, but the majority just get strung out and are a drag on society.

I'm not really sold either way on it. If someone presented a really convincing case that the costs really were lower and particularly lower for the people that avoid the crap, then I don't really care. But most of the arguments seem to be from people that just want easier access to more drugs.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[dr. chuck bunsen]

You are wrong, a smoker costs the insurance companies less over their lifetime than someone rather healthy that lives into old age. A healthy person that lives longer has an accumulative effect as they have more and more health visits over time, and the costs do trump that of a smoker who has to be treated at an earlier age and then eventually dies early.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[glodime]

EasyTree Wrote:

"get yourself a debit card"

webmistressrachel Wrote:

I CAN'T GET ONE,

Why not?

It's a another HIDDEN digital divide which I suspect many millions of other people are stuck on the wrong side of... because of low incomes... for some totally illegal and immoral reason i cannot buy the things you can.

Please explain. What illegal actions are you referring to? I don't don't understand the moral implications of what you are describing. In fact, I'm having trouble piecing together what you are describing.

...walk around a council estate, look at the angry faces, and ask why?

What is a council estate? Is this a UK thing?

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Jesus_666]

How about this approach: There are various types of restricted drugs (you need restrictions to prevent random over-the-counter sale of antibiotics anyway) but all of the restrictions only apply to the seller.

Type 1 restricted drugs can only be sold by pharmacies and only if a medical doctor prescribed them. This applies to antibiotics and other medical drugs that shouldn't be handed out willy-nilly. Possession is legal as long as acquisition was. In case of an illegal sale proving it's a valid defense to prove that it was reasonable to assume the legitimacy of the seller.

Type 2 restricted drugs are drugs likely to cause damage to the user or people around him when consumed. Tobacco, alcohol and similar recreational drugs apply. These can only be sold by a licensed dealer to adults and are likely to have additional taxes tacked onto them to offset the cost to society they create. Again, even in the case of an illegal sale, you're likely to get off the hook if it was unreasonable to doubt the legality of the transaction.

Type 3 restricted drugs are drugs with a strong negative effect that can't be expected to be handled by laymen without killing themselves. Botox might be an example. These can only be sold by licensed dealers to licensed professionals. Possession by unlicensed people should usually be dealt with by something to the tune of confiscation; stronger measures should only be taken if large amounts (defined as, for example, N usual doses) are found.


In general, people should be able to possess most things but there should be responsibility and, to a certain degree, accountability. You can do to your body what you want but you still have to pay the taxes put on the stuff you want to waste yourself with (this should still lead to higher quality at lower prices even with high taxes). Licensed dealers ensure that the trade proceeds in a sane way and minors don't get direct access to the goods.

Everyone wins: You get to do whatever you want to without being criminalized. You also get access to drugs of a controlled high quality (as quality control laws are likely to be implemented). Society as a whole gets money to offset the damaging effects of recreational drugs. Everyone gets a bit of safety as controlled sale of the drugs allows certain threats to be reduced.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Bigjeff5]

Ah, but don't forget, "420" is exactly the same as 2x210!! And as we all know, 210 is simply 21 ten times, and there was a movie out a couple years ago about the number 21.

What's your point?

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[glodime]

Runaway1956 Wrote:

As for my caffeine and nicotine addictions, I'll deal with them myself, in my own good time. I'll stop smoking some day. Probably the day the doctor pronounces me dead. And, it's none of YOUR business.

Taxman415a Wrote:

It wouldn't be any of my business if I didn't have to pay more for your health care because of your choices.

I say that it is still none of your business. It costs money for funding highways and airports to connect distant places in the USA, but that is not a reason to prevent people from living in cities far from each other.

They [addicts] end up in the ER (because they typically have no health insurance) or killing unrelated people in traffic accidents or whatever. Those both represent large costs to people that avoid the behavior.

These costs don't seem to be reduced by making drugs illegal to use or possess. As drug users don't seem to care if it is against the law to use their drug of choice. In other words, making an activity illegal does prevent that activity. We could simply tax drugs sales at a certain level and the incidence of drug use would be roughly the same as it is today.

It doesn't matter if the drugs are cheaper from making them legal, they still cost something and people that are addicted will still do whatever they need to to get more including crime and murder. Your argument would have been stronger if you could make a cohesive case for there being less crime and costs on a total picture basis, but you didn't bother with that. Also, your darwinian argument would be better if people tended to die quickly on drugs, but the majority just get strung out and are a drag on society.

These seem to be arguments for funding public education and treatment (rehabilitation), not prohibition.

I'm not really sold either way on it. If someone presented a really convincing case that the costs really were lower and particularly lower for the people that avoid the crap, then I don't really care. But most of the arguments seem to be from people that just want easier access to more drugs.

If most of the money currently spent on law enforcement of drug prohibition (including legal and incarceration costs) where instead spent on public education and treatment (rehabilitation) in combination with taxation and regulation (think smoking and drinking laws and taxes, although I don't think they are perfect, just better than other drug laws) I think that there is a good case to be made that the economic and social costs of drug use could be reduced significantly.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[joebagodonuts]

Well said! The worst vice I can think of is the compulsive need to mind other people's business

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Anonymous Coward]

Normally I'd say "citation needed", but in this case I prefer "you're full of horseshit and have no idea what you're talking about".

The cost of one months' worth of chemo is greater than the cost of providing a statistically average person with no long-term conditions for a decade.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

Jesus, I could go along with any number of schemes - provided that they were RATIONAL. Your scheme is rational. Not necessarily a scheme that I might like - but rational. Scroll up to the poster who thinks that my health is any of his business. He simply doesn't understand that I have one life, and that I am going to die one day, by one method or another. I'm going to pay taxes til I quit working, then I'll be a financial burden on society. If I choose to participate in an activity such as smoking which will almost certainly SHORTEN those retirement years, so be it - he actually benefits. But, no, he begrudges my vices, needs, independence, free will, or whatever else we choose to call it. Call it self destructiveness, for all I care. Whatever it is, it's between me, and my maker. (With your nick, you'll appreciate that, lol) It's simply NONE OF HIS BUSINESS.

Joebagodonuts states very well what I'm trying to say: the worst vice in the world is the vice that leads people to tell other people what they may and may not do.

The taxation thing, I can go along with, to an extent. One problem with taxation, though, is with all these people who feel that the taxes I pay on my tobacco should pay for whatever health care I might require in my old age - then they pass new laws so that they can steal that money to indoctrinate kids to think like they do. We'll see the same if Mary-J is ever legalized - or any other drugs.

But - yes, you're on the right track. We can quibble over taxes and specific penalties for violating rational laws from now til eternity, and people will do so. The most important thing is to move drug laws into the realm of rationality, and stop shooting and incarcerating people who wish to indulge.

Botox? Yep, it's probably among the deadliest of poisons out there. It should be restricted. But, if some fool really, really, really wants to experiment with it as a recreational drug, I say let him. When the botulism has eaten his body to the bones, we shovel him into a body bag and incinerate him. If he's so terribly wrong, he can discuss it with God on judgement day.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[AmiMoJo]

Problem is cocaine costs money, and being an addict John Q probably doesn't earn much, assuming he can even hold down a job. Even with the lower prices due to no longer being illegal it's still going to encourage crime. Some of the chavs round here will rob you just to get a better mobile phone, so you can imagine what they will be like with a drug habit to feed.

It's also naive to think that everyone who becomes addicted to drugs (of any kind, alcohol and tobacco included) does so by choice. Sometimes people need help to get out of a situation which isn't entirely their fault, and as a bleeding heart liberal I'd rather try to help them and just kick them back into the gutter. There are always going to be bad people, but the reality is you have a choice: pay for them to live in jail or try to help them become a useful member of society and pay their own way.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

Alright - we need to draw a distinction here. Cocaine and crack cocaine aren't the same thing. Crack is supposed to be addictive after just one high. Powder cocaine is much, much less addictive.

A huge number of famous people have used cocaine, without ruining their lives. A huge number of people have ruined their lives with cocaine - George Dubya Bush comes to mind as part of that latter group.

So, you see, it's not all cut and dried.

As for helping people - well, those bleeding hearts who are in charge now are happy to bleed me of money, to punish me for my vice. $35/carton of ultra-cheap cigarettes on the Indian reservation is simply ridiculous! Please, I don't need or want any help. Nor do most addicts who are addicted to the hard drugs. Just turn your head, walk on by, and pretend the addicts don't exist.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[eugene ts wong]

Why can't you get a debit card? In Canada, you could get President's Choice bank card. I don't see the problem.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Jesus_666]

The problem with botox and similarly lethal substances is that it's not just easy to kill yourself, it's just as easy to kill other people, even by accident. Granted, it's perfectly posible for someone without formal training to safely handle the stuff but I think relatively heavy restrictions for some of the most deadly substances are acceptable as long as we don't go overboard.

Okay, given the kind of politicians everywhere tends to have we can safely expect them to take all of five minutes to demand that cocaine, pornography and storage media containing pirated movies are declared "extremely lethal substances" with a "very large amount" being defined as 1 femtogram.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[sowth]

Anyone smoking tobacco, marijuana, crack or anything else in the presence of others or where others will breathe the smoke should be prosecuted under industrial pollution laws. I'm sure there are also laws against forcing other people to take medical substances, and they should be prosecuted under those laws as well.

The real scam is the war on drugs. The government just makes it so the stuff that goes on is hidden, production of the stuff is completely unregulated (leading innocent people to be exposed to dangerous substances), and if you are a victim of exposure, you can't do much about it because you are just as likely to be arrested just for being near the stuff as the guy who does it, and your property is just as likely to be confiscated just for being in contact with it.

Really, what are they doing to stop recreational drug use? Obviously not much, but they are making more people afraid of the police, just like the TSA makes more people afraid of flying than the terrorists.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[marten_77]

You made me curious, so I just read the relevant section of the Nigerian criminal code. I don't think that you are correct in your statement of the law. Neither Section 419, Section 419A, Section 419B, nor any of their subsections establishes any such sort of affirmative defense. The language of the statute looks pretty similar to most other fraud statutes, and is rather unremarkable: http://www.nigeria-law.org/Criminal%20Code%20Act-Part%20VI%20%20to%20the%20end.htm

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

As Dr. Chuck Bunsen points out - a smoker's lifetime health care costs less than a non-smoker's. The smoker is more likely to just DIE before he uses a zillion dollars worth of health care.

AC replied to Dr. Chuck, asking for citations. I'll refer you to the controversy in New York regarding the proposed taxes on "fat foods". It seems that a lot of New Yorkers have stopped smoking, started eating, and have become diabetics. Solution? Punish those ex-smokers by adding exorbitant taxes to the foods they've started eating.

But, hey, it's all good. A new generation of fresh faced law students have a new cause to fight for. Bunch of wannabe martinettes have a goal in life now.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Scrameustache]

The real scam is the war on drugs.

Definitely.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Gravitron 5000]

I thought the obvious scam was the Government.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[KGIII]

Anyway, soon the "dont mess with webmistressrachel ACs will arrive and cook you, troll! I don't even have to do it myself, I have an army of fanbois on here and GOD your comment is so shallow and dumb why am I even still typing???

Probably because you have an inflated ego and think that you're smarter than everybody else? No, you're not the first person to figure those things out. Load up your AC accounts or what not and have fun. I'm often amused by trivial things.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[psithurism]

Really? The tobacco industry is a scam? Maybe I'm just lying on their behalf, but I went down to the general store the other day and bought a couple cigars. They did ask me if I was 18 so maybe they are going to steal my identity with that info later, but they had no reoccurring payment scheme, no account information had to be divulged and they did deliver those cigars. On the other hand I lost thousands to more reputable products that I would consider scams. "Scam" is not how bad the product is, it's the business scheme.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Taxman415a]

So you're taking people that smoked and quit, then take up a new bad habit-eating too much. That's not surprising, nor does it provide any evidence that smokers are cheaper for health care overall.

The diseases the smokers die of aren't all sudden ones and as another poster pointed out, cancer is extremely expensive to treat. A small increase in the incidence of cancer would pay for many many years of health care for non smokers. Over all I'm still betting smokers cost much much more.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[Runaway1956]

You're betting. The posts above weren't betting, they stated as fact that smokers cost more than nonsmokers. There are plenty of headlines out there - not that I believe them all.

BTW - where do all these people over 100 who have smoked all their adult lives, and are as healthy as anyone fit in?

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[eugene ts wong]

I don't understand what the problem is. I read your post. I did a search on the internet. Some people might not be able to get a free prepaid credit card. O2 customers can. That being said, there some very cheap cards, it seems.

Also, the debit card that I'm talking about is the card that you get when you open a bank savings account, or chequing account. I've heard about banks that charge people money to open it, and they offer the customers no interest, but I didn't think that the UK would be like that.

Are you telling me that you have to have a credit check before you open a regular banking account? In Canada, you could open an account, even if you have the worst credit history in the world, and can afford to deposit only 1 penny, and never got a job.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[KGIII]

It is interesting to see you move the goalposts and to read you whining about not being wealthy. You could, of course, spend less time here, budget better, and earn what you are worth I suppose.

Re:419 Scams are named for their law they break

[eugene ts wong]

I am just so surprised, because I met a UK gal who moaned about how she found it so difficult to use debit in Canada. I got the impression that using debit was easy in the UK.

I guess that it's all because culture and finances.

Link Dead

[darthdavid]

Looks like the linked is /.ed...

Re:Link Dead

[LostCluster]

Let's make a 10-page graphic novel and talk about it on /.! That's sure to make a profit... for our web host!

Re:Link Dead

[Simon80]

Coral cache link to the rescue: http://forum.419eater.com.nyud.net:8080/forum/viewtopic.php?t=177394

Slashbaiting

[lucm]

> 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.

Slashbaiting is even better: have someone posting a mildly funny story to generate trafic for their website, only to make their web server go down in flames in only a few minutes of exposure on Slashdot.

("Yes Mr Advertiser, I got 200k visitors on my website last January. 199,997 of them between 5h and 5h10 on Jan 3, but still...").

Re:Slashbaiting

[Registered Coward v2]

Nurse Nasty is one of the regulars at 419eater.com, I doubt if they did this to generate traffic. The more peopel know about 419 fraud and the various methods used to scam people, the better. Even learning simple things, like why a check "clearing" doesn't, in the US at least, mean it is a good check; and may prevent soemone from being a victim.

You'd be surprised how many people aren't aware of how scams work. I ran into someone selling his bike; he had received a "money order" for the purchase, shipping, and an "opps, I sent to much please send me a Western Union money order for the overage less an a extra $200 for your troubles" overage. I explained to him that it probably was a classic overpayment fraud and either take the MO to his bank or police station and explain his concerns; or to simply send an email saying deal's off bank won't take your MO and tear up the MO. Either way, he was saved from a very expensive mistake.

Re:Slashbaiting

[Anonymous Coward]

And exactly how does Nurse Nasty's comic "get the message across"? All I see is some self-congratulation at the expense of some Nigerians

Re:Slashbaiting

[BertieBaggio]

RTFSite. The 419-baiters take time and money from the scammers, which slows them perpetrating *real* scams.

Also, they make the scammers more paranoid about the next responder, which is wonderfully poetic.

Re:Slashbaiting

[hawk]

The California bar has sent out warning messages about these.

The version for attorneys has the attorney contacted from out of the country for help collecting a judgment, offering a typical contingency fee arrangement. The case quickly settles with the attorney involved, the attorney receives a cashier check, upon which no hold is put when he deposits it into his trust account (quite common for attorneys with a good relation with the bank who typically deposit institutional checks).

The attorney is then to wire the "client"'s share of the settlement to its own country . . .

Amazingly, many of these have been caught in time to save the attorney. I believe that some have been caught when the attorney called another attorney who had been named as the source of the "referral" who responded with, "who???".

hawk, esq.

Internet Justice,

[yanguang]

never fails.

Who are the victims?

[symes]

Sometimes I wonder if those Nigerians willing to engage in these scams are not just the poor and desparate foot soldiers of someone far more nasty... people who are caught in poverty and desparation can do strange things when offered a glimmer of a reward. Now what would be funny is if the 419eater people went and scambaited the Somali pirates. Now that would be worth watching.

Re:Who are the victims?

[timmarhy]

that only makes the case stronger to waste their time and keep them from real victims and making more money.

Re:Who are the victims?

[Jeppe Salvesen]

Not quite. The 419'ers are proof of how technology and persistence can move people from the lower middle class to the upper middle class.

Re:Who are the victims?

[b4upoo]

There are plenty of spamers located right here in the US who need some serious behavioral corrections.

Re:Who are the victims?

[jonadab]

> Sometimes I wonder if those Nigerians willing to
> engage in these scams are not just the poor and desparate

On the contrary, they have internet access on a regular basis. This pretty much implies that they are necessarily upper-class, by local standards. (This is not entirely the same thing as being upper-class by American standards, granted. But it's a *long* way from being the poor and the desperate.) Additionally, poor people in Nigeria would never have been able to put together some of those costumes. Also, they wouldn't have cameras to take the photos.

Re:Who are the victims?

[SD-Arcadia]

What they do is merely an up-to-date trick of the tradeless. Beggars, hobos, petty thieves with an internet connection. A criminal enterprise ofcourse, but reverse-baiting them in vigilante fashion just reeks of classism and racism. I don't find it not much funnier than putting monopoly bills in a beggar's can.

Re:Who are the victims?

[selven]

From the 419eater.com letters archive:

For the most part these criminals are not, "poor people trying to scratch a living", but are very prosperous compared to their law-abiding countrymen, and many operate in highly organised, and highly successful criminal gangs. Millions of dollars are stolen on a DAILY basis, with absolutely no thought given to victims, who are losing vast amounts of money, homes, relatives, jobs and worse. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just "greedy & stupid people" that fall for these scams.

Re:Who are the victims?

[Anonymous Coward]

Waste your own time you mean. Those 'real victims' are greedy and stupid. You can't protect those from themselves. Scam baiting doesn't solve that in any measurable way.

Re:Who are the victims?

[Opportunist]

Erh... no. It's like carrying monopoly money in your purse so the next thief gets nothing but colored paper instead of money.

To make sure you see the difference between beggars and thieves: Beggars ask you for money. Thieves trick you into giving it to them. The difference is that in one case it's your free decision.

Re:Who are the victims?

[0100010001010011]

419 E-mails are clearly going for greed. But I know quite a few older people who have almost fallen for the craigs list "I'm on vacation" scam.

Does anyone know any Nigerian that I can post in my ads that basically say "I'm not interested, don't even try?" I found some stuff or 419 eater alluding to how the guy was conceived and what stable his mother was in, after I sent it to him things stopped rather quickly (after a long list of broken english obscenities.)

Re:Who are the victims?

[LukeWebber]

While I loathe them with a passion, I feel I should point out that money going to Nigerian scammers is "freely given" as well. The difference being that it's given in the anticipation of wildly unrealistic, usually illicit profits. Stupid, greedy people trying to profit from the misfortunes of others, but who instead end up contributing to the profits of slightly less stupid, arguably even greedier people.
It's hard to see the moral high ground here.

Re:Who are the victims?

[fm6]

Consider that anybody with access to the internet (and nowadays, that's anybody who lives in an urban area, and quite a few who don't) can launch a 419 scam. No need for a big perfidious organization. And such an organization would surely hire a few people to write better (as in "literate") scam letters.

How do you scambait Somali pirates? Bearing in mind the risks of playing games with the heavily armed and bloodthirsty.

Re:Who are the victims?

[evilviper]

Beggars ask you for money. Thieves trick you into giving it to them.

What level of deception is required? Is a beggar with a sign that (incorrectly) says "Vietnam War Vet" a scammer?

How about one who just asks for money for food, but actually needs money for booze or other drugs? Beggar or thief?

Re:Who are the victims?

[psithurism]

What they do is merely an up-to-date trick of the tradeless. Beggars, hobos, petty thieves with an internet connection. A criminal enterprise ofcourse, but reverse-baiting them in vigilante fashion just reeks of classism and racism. I don't find it not much funnier than putting monopoly bills in a beggar's can.

I don't see the racist connection, they could be any race we are baiting them because they are scammers. Actually I don't see the classism either, if some CEO called me up and asked me to do something ridiculous, I would love to get him dressed in funky religious garb and post pictures on the net.

I'm tired of spammers on the internet or on the streets begging and scamming for my money it wastes my time and often scares me. I say more power to any vigilante who wants to return the annoyance, plus get some laughs for me.

OMMFG.

[Anonymous Coward]

Shame on you /., posting this shit. The comic plumbed heretofore unplumbed depths of shittiness. I can't believe I wasted the time waiting on that shit to load. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME READING THESE "COMICS". They make pre-teen fan-fiction look like classic literature. What complete and utter shit. A new low for a slash story. Jesus fucking christ. Sure, moderators, mark this -7 Troll, but it's still not as bad as the OP.

Re:OMMFG.

[jackd]

Argh, no mod points when I need them. Someone mod up parent. I just waited fucking 10 minutes for this piece of stinking turd to load.

Re:OMMFG.

[Anonymous Coward]

You could've easily stripped off the photobucket URLS from the links in those 10 minutes:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE001.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE002.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE003.jpg ...etc... just increment to 009

It's still shit though.

Re:OMMFG.

[Opportunist]

Erh... you might not have noticed that the fact that this is strung together as a "comic" is not the main focus of the whole ploy. Or, in other words, it's not the comic that is awesome. It's awesome that the person creating it managed to trick scammers into posing in such a way that they could be used for a comic.

Re:OMMFG.

[digibud]

This was fantastic. Not sure it belonged in Slashdot but it made my day and month. I dunno who has the time to do all this but it busted the irony meter and made me laugh aloud. Good 'nuff for me.

The actual comic images

[FooSoft]

The forum seems to be a bit unresponsive, so here are the directl links to the comic images if you don't want to wait:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE001.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE002.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE003.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE004.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE005.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE006.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE007.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE008.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE009.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/nursenasty/mugu_x/PAGE010.jpg

Re:racist

[Donkey_Hotey]

Has ANYBODY noticed that these are fairly creepy and somewhat racist images?

Just curious--if they were white Europeans, would you be asking the same question?

Define baiting

[hwyhobo]

Have we just been baited into reading crap for no good reason? Does that qualify as scam? Scam baiting? Or Baiting scam?

Re:Define baiting

[Odin's Raven]

Have we just been baited into reading crap for no good reason? Does that qualify as scam? Scam baiting? Or Baiting scam?

Either way, one thing we can be sure of is that the author is a master baiter.

<cricket chirps/>

Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

Re:Define baiting

[Smurf]

Have we just been baited into reading crap for no good reason? Does that qualify as scam? Scam baiting? Or Baiting scam?

None of the above. Read TFS again. Nurse Nasty said that scambaiting is a fun sport. He never claimed that the comic book itself was actually funny. If you feel disappointed it's your own fault.

Some people might find the comic book funny and others won't. The point is not if the comic book itself is funny. What is amusing is the fact that this guy got all these creeps to take humiliating pictures of themselves, and that he published them for the world to see. Given that these are some of the very few people in the world that deserve such treatment, that is well worth the read.

confused

[Anonymous Coward]

so you're trying to promote your unfunny comic about baiting scammers by spamming it all over the place?

Re:racist

[skirmish666]

Creepy sure. Racist? Maybe if they were impersonating a member of another race for comedic value. Oh wait, one of them was...

Re:Diary of a Slashdot User

[arjan_t]

Nothing like shooting the shit with your pals after a long day of watching Star Trek VHS tapes.

Drag yourself into 2010 man, Star Trek is on Blu-ray now...

(and yes, 1985 called, they do want their VHS tapes back)

Brilliant Troll is Brilliant

[iamapizza]

Ye Olde Rofl.

Re:Brilliant Troll is Brilliant

[drinkypoo]

typo fail. it's always sad when someone tries to be clever and instead proves they're a failure.

Re:Brilliant Troll is Brilliant

[iamapizza]

I think you need to sperate facts from fiction.

Re:racist

[asdf7890]

I can't say as I see racism. Yes it taking a rather direct stab at a bunch of coloured people from a poverty stricken country, but it isn't having a go because they are coloured but because they are fraudsters (well, they are attempting to be fraudsters) and stupid enough to fall for that shit. I'm sure the effect would be much the same no matter what racial/social/other grouping was involved.

Having said that, I find myself seriously doubting that recent 419eater reverse scams are true. This one in particular. It is just too far - I can't see even the most thick and desperate scammer not picking up on the fact that the piss is being taken in industrial quantities.

Does anyone else find themselves considering that "Hello Mr Black African, I'll pay you and some friends $X to send me some photos of you all looking stupid so I can use them to massage my e-penis and try look clever" would not require a large value for X in order to get the mark interested? Even that wouldn't be racism, to go back to the original point I replied to - the people most likely to take a small X for such a thing while still having some access to the Internet in order to take part are more likely to be black Africans or a similar populace (where there is much poverty, but relatively reliable access to Internet resources via charity/government funded education programs) than, say, western Europeans (less poverty) or rural Chinese (little easy access to the tech). Gross exploitation, yes, but not racism (at least not directly - maybe people would be less willing to laugh if the nationality and/or skin-tone of the targets was one they cared more for).

Shouldn't this be in idle?

[AniVisual]

Not newsworthy. Not newsworthy at all.

Re:Shouldn't this be in idle?

[Opportunist]

The comic itself probably isn't. Scamming is enjoying a high time and raising awareness to it certainly is newsworthy, though. If done in a way that entertains people (for whatever reason...) at least it gets heard instead of glossed over and forgotten.

Re:scam baiting 9/11 metaphor

[rich_r]

Honestly, scam baiting these guys is an undesirable consequence. Just as 9-11 gave us color coded alert charts and increased duct tape sales, baiting them is not productive to your time.

But it's fun!

Re:racist

[jonadab]

Those costumes would be ridiculous no matter who wore them. Which was, I think, the point.

The people who do this (I mean the people with far too much time on their hands wo do the baiting) aren't making fun of them for being black. They're making fun of them for being gullible and greedy. Honest law-abiding Nigerians who don't try to scam people are not vulnerable to this kind of baiting.

Not that that makes the thing a *worthwhile* endeavor. As I said, the baiters have *far* too much free time. One of their teachers should assign them some homework, or something.

But I've got no sympathy for the baited scammers. If they don't like it, they can stop running illegal scams that give their whole country a bad name.

Re:racist

[bothwell]

"maybe people would be less willing to laugh if the nationality and/or skin-tone of the targets was one they cared more for"

I doubt that, tbh - people generally mock fraudsters and scammers without prejudice to anything else about them. Rest of your post is spot-on, though.

Re:scam baiting 9/11 metaphor

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

In the scammers case, the boss wouldnt give two shits if someone spent a day dressing up to do what an email asked.

Making it funny it raises awareness of the scam. Raised awareness of the scam means more resistance to the scam.

I tried to talk to a scammer once

[selven]

He claimed to be a starving woman from East Uganda, I did a traceroute and, of course, he was from India. It went well for 2-3 rounds, but then everything fell apart when Gmail helpfully dunked all his new messages into the spam folder and I didn't see any of them.

Re:Diary of a Slashdot User

[AMSRay]

For true geek cred they should be Beta tapes of Star Trek (The Original Series).

Re:scam baiting 9/11 metaphor

[Opportunist]

Look, I am not some bleeding heart liberal, but look at it from the other end, the ones in the pics may not be the actual ring-leaders, they could be just the recipients from the bosses directive to "staff" to "do what this email says", just as we get told to "go and sort out the General Managers Mobile Phone Internet connection".

Yes, most likely. Did I ask them to join the ring and do I feel bad when he gets kicked out because he got reverse-scammed into believing me? No. Did I ask a chinese goldspammer to work for $goldseller and feel bad when he gets fired 'cause I got him banned? No. Do I feel bad when I rat out that poor idiot selling dope on the street? No.

I'm well aware that these are probably the only way for some people to support themselves, but my liberal heart stops bleeding when this entails hurting other people and cheating them out of money.

Re:Too good to be true

[ta bu shi da yu]

Oh yes they can! Because no matter how stupid the scammers, there is always someone more stupid to actually scam.

Re:racist

[Opportunist]

They're creepy and they're belitteling, demeaning and outright insulting pictures. That's part of the idea. Not because these people are black, but because these people are scammers. That they're black is simply quite logically considering they come from a country where most people are.

I'm quite sure they'd be just as belittling, demeaning and insulting if the scammers were white, yellow or polka dotted red and blue. It's not fun because they're black. It's fun because they tried to trick people out of money and got exposed and publically humiliated for being criminals. Not for being black.

Re:racist

[ta bu shi da yu]

Nope, probably something stereotypically white.

Re:Pathetic

[Bluebottel]

Offensive? The scammers lose some time and dignity if they get baited, nothing that will matter in a day or two. If they manage to scam someone that person might give away a large portion of their livelyhood.
A swedish man got scammed for about 800.000 SEK (roughly 120.000 USD) and the bank/police cant do anything about it. They prey on the weak and exploit them to the max, they deserve what they get.

Re:racist

[Tanktalus]

Do the guys pictured in this article look black to you? (Ok, a couple of them are harder to tell.) In Canada anyway, we don't associate watermelon hats with Blacks. We associate them with Saskatchewanites. Saskatchewenians. Saskatchew... People from Saskatchewan.

And, with racism in Canada not being measurable when compared to the Deep South of the US, I guess you could call this our version of racism.

Corrections from a scambaiter

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:De-peer and 419 disappears

[SteveFoerster]

Nigeria has already demonstrated that they shouldn't be online

I hope someone someday collectively punishes you and everyone you know for things a few people who live near you did so you can get a sense of how fair your suggestion is.

Re:Pathetic

[A Friendly Troll]

Scamming the scammers makes *you* a scammer. End of story. If you enjoy making fun of people who aren't even behind the business but merely badly-paid employees, you need to rethink your moral grounds.

Don't steer the discussion over to the victims, this has nothing to do with them. What this story and what that forum post is about is simple, pathetic griefing. I could understand such things being amusing to teenagers, but not grown-up people. It's pathetic, it's insulting, it's bad.

The biggest scam is soap

[Laebshade]

Yes. The biggest scam is soap. And antibacterial soap.

Washing your body with soap gets rid of important bacteria, which upsets the balance of your skin, and causes odor. The next time you take a shower/bath, try scrubbing with a clean, wet cloth. No soap. No shampoo or conditioner.

I haven't used soap, shampoo, or hair conditioner in 3 days, and I have no smell, my hair is healthier than ever, and my skin is no longer dry/scaly. I take showers to wash off the extra sweat/oil on my skin, but I only use a wet cloth. Read this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-477378/Six-weeks-wash-The-soapless-experiment.html - the woman went 6 weeks without washing, even if it's just a quick run under the shower.

Re:The biggest scam is soap

[Blakey Rat]

Wow, way to blow away all of those Slashdotter stereotypes!!

Re:The biggest scam is soap

[Bigjeff5]

Anti-bacterial soap is the super-scam there, because plain old bar soap and a brisk rubbing action already kills about 99% of germs.

I still recommend using soap though. I'm sorry, but not very many people have the correct diet that cause their sweat and oils to not stink. If you don't wash you end up stinking a lot and most people don't appreciate hanging around stinky people.

Also, the "germs are good for you" is decidedly bogus, since your skin exists for the express purpose of protecting you from those bacteria.

Re:The biggest scam is soap

[hawk]

He left out the catches, though . . .

For some reason, my wife won't let me sit on the couch any more. I explained, but she insisted.

Changint the oil in two cars is hard work! I *need* to sprawl out afterwards . . . :)

hawk

Re:Diary of a Slashdot User

[budgenator]

,that you traded for your chaotic-evil +9 wizard D & D character for.

Re:De-peer and 419 disappears

[stonefoz]

Since when has life been fair? The people are always collectively punished for every stupid decision their government does. I'd have no problem disconnecting a country that can't police it's network. What other options have they given the rest of the world?

Who is posing for these pictures?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is posing for these pictures? The real scammers, or poor people who have been paid by the scammers to embarass themselves? If I went around NYC and paid homeless guys to dress up funny and then made a website where we could all laugh at them, would that be OK?

Re:Diary of a Slashdot User

[rantingkitten]

Around 1985 my father recorded all the Star Trek reruns on VHS as they aired nightly, so growing up, those are what I watched. And honestly, they're way better than any DVD or Bluray or whatever futuristic medium might come along. Why? Because of the commercials. They are absolutely hilarious. Jason Alexander prancing around in the street singing the praises the McDLT from McDonald's. Jingles about milk. Announcers solemnly explaining the state-of-the-art technology in the new Nissan Sentra. Circuit City's offer to beat any competitor's price, illustrated by a clerk giving a kid extra change back when the kid showed him a competitor's ad. Lisa Lisa live at the Omnidome -- get your tickets now. The Radio Shack Color Computer. Great stuff. Give me those old tapes over the Bluray's any day.

It's also interesting how short commercial breaks were then. There'd be two, maybe three very short commercials, then back to the show. The interruption was never more than a minute and a half.

Re:Diary of a Slashdot User

[Restil]

The shows were also several minutes longer, but had to fit in the same 1 hour timeslot. They would cheat a bit on sindication and cut short the opening and credit scenes, but even then, you had a good 3-4 minutes more actual show time, and therefore less time for commercials.

-Restil

Re:De-peer and 419 disappears

[chiguy]

Collective punishment is meted out all the time by some of the most honorable people we know: the American People.

We put economic sanctions on Iraq because their leader had a big ego, hurting millions because 1 guy is an idiot. Similar things in North Korea, Iran, Syria, Libya, etc.

We use drones to target terrorists, killing innocent people as 'collateral damage'.

We even do this to ourselves. Some guy from the UK tries to set off a bomb in his shoe on an airplane, so every air passenger now has to remove their shoes for scanning. 8 years later, how much time, energy, and money has been wasted on this sham security measure?

Now that some guy hides a bomb in his underwear, we all have to get our underwear scanned. So what happens when some guy puts a stick of dynamite up his ass?

So although I don't necessarily believe in blacklisting Nigeria, as an economic sanction, it's not a totally unreasonable approach.

It doesn't even approach the economic damage that the stupid American masses incur on ourselves through sham airport security measures of all kinds (how much does just the TSA cost us?).

And we just keep taking it.

Re:De-peer and 419 disappears

[psithurism]

What I don't understand is that someone can download a copyrighted movie and get disconnected, yet there are literally hundreds of people in Nigeria doing this every day, yet we haven't de-peered that shithole of a country.

Here, I'll explain it to you: That one copyrighted movie had the power of billions of dollars of power from movie production associations protecting it all hammered down on one poor smuck who can't find a legal defense. On the other hand, when a similar poor smuck gets scammed out of a few thousand dollars, he bitches to some low paid local scam investigator and is put on the bottom of their "things we should care about" list.

Re:racist

[RockModeNick]

I don't disagree as to their effect, but the portrayals play on classical racist troupes in such a way that, were I black, I'd probably be offended. Being Italian/Czech-American, they just make me raise an eyebrow. It's not so much who is targeted, but the specifics of how they are demeaned that gives me pause.