Keep your cool

Scam baiting - Best computer sport ever...

Sunday, August 06, 2006

I'm sure all of us have received Nigerian 419 scam emails in the past. Basically they are a plea for money and in return you will get 100x what you originally invest. The upfront money you invest is for tying up loose ends usually in government fees or lawyer fees.

Well it has recently come to my attention (thanks to Wired) that there is a wonderful community of people that do scam baiting for sport. That is when they are propositioned by email for a Nigerian 419 scam they play along with it and make the scammers do crazy stuff in hopes of completing a scam.

I have only read a little bit so far but here is some of the things they have gotten scammers to do:

1. How about fill out a questionnaire that is 2000 questions long
2. Make the scammer get a permanent tattoo before you agree to release funds
3. Make the scammer carve intricate wood artwork for you and make them pay all shipping costs.
4. Make them pay shipping charges on a junk washing machine shipped from the USA to Nigeria
5. Making them pay shipping charges and duty fees of around $1000 for 300 pounds of junk.

Here are the sites that specialize in scam baiting:

http://www.419eater.com/

http://www.thescambaiter.com/

http://www.419baiter.com/links.html

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