Ever get spam mail? Of course you do. For a while there it annoyed the crap out of me but I have gotten used to it now and my e-mail program just gets rid of what I don't want. However...have you ever gotten an e-mail telling you that you've won the internet lottery or some other lottery that you never entered? Have you ever gotten one that says some guy wants you to help him get millions out of his country and if you do, you will get a cut of the cash? These are referred to as 419 scams and are usually from Nigeria although they could be from anywhere. They claim you are somehow entitled to large amounts of money and then after contacting them you find out you need to give them some amount of money as a transfer fee. Usually if this fee is paid, they will then try to milk you for more by claiming customs fees and all sorts of other things all with the promise that you will, in the end, get millions. In fact, you will be ripped off. These are the e-mails that I like.
I have started what is called "baiting" these scammers. The basics are like this: You get one of these mails and reply to it as some kind of made up character who is interested in what they offer. You attempt to drag these people on as long as you can and make up outlandish story lines as you go. The best part is that these people are criminals and are really scamming people out of money (yes, people do fall for it and it is big business) so baiting them is actually like crime fighting in a way.
Along the way, you try to get them to send you "trophies" which consist of pictures of them doing stupid things or holding up ridiculous signs to prove to you they are trustworthy. Their understanding of the english language is very weak so you can get some good signs as long as you have a decent back story to give a reason why they would write this. My wife says this is a perfect hobby for me as I get to belittle and humiliate people and actually get to feel good about doing so.
There is a huge group of people from all around the world that are in on this baiting and there are even some websites dedicated to it. I belong to one that is quite amusing. It has a forum where people can exchange ideas on baiting and things along those lines. The main part of the site has a section with pictures that baiters have sent in where they have gotten picture trophies. There is a section for the letters that they have sent back and forth while scamming the scammers. It's hilarious.
This is a link to the site if you want to check it out.I haven't been able to get a trophy yet as I haven't been doing this very long but I have gotten quite a few hilarious correspondences. I use different character names such as Heyw00d Jabl0me, H0ward Cunn1ngham, and H@nk @rinfor (all munged in case of search attempts). I am currently working on one where I am a part owner of a company that we sell all things related to dogs. My company name works out to be "F@h-K1ng Dogs" and our company slogan is "I Love F@h-K1ng Dogs!". Can you guess what sign I'm trying to get this scammer to hold up?
There are some risks and because of this you need to take precautions and be very careful what you do send them. One of the main things that you need to remember is "bait safe". You never send from an e-mail address that has any of your real info on it and you never send any kind of picture or form that hasn't been worked on to remove any identifying information.
This is a fun hobby and I thank you for allowing me to tell you a little bit about it.
