You can find all sorts of interesting stories by googling "scam bait" My favorite was the guys who actually got their scammers to act out (and film!) a version of the "Dead Parrot" sketch from Monty Python. I would find the link for you but I can't access YouTube from work. Searching for "scam dead parrot" would probably pay off.
These are stone killers, little man. They ain't cuddly like me.
Jayne ,'The Train Job'
Spike's Bitches 36: Did I Sully Our Good Name?
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risque (and frisque), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Laga - Jul 22, 2007 7:17:33 pm PDT #7667 of 10001
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
Typo Boy - Jul 22, 2007 7:48:10 pm PDT #7668 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
I think another "scam-baiter" got the scammer to carve and mail him a sculpture of an ipod.
erikaj - Jul 22, 2007 7:50:37 pm PDT #7669 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!
really?
Typo Boy - Jul 22, 2007 8:34:33 pm PDT #7670 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
That was from memory. He actually got two carvings - one of "Trixie and Captain Cuddlepuss" and the other of a Commodore 64 keyboard. How my memory turned that last into an Ipod I don't know.
Here is the link: [link]
It seems mean, but on the other this type of email scam is not neccesarily non-violent. If scammers find someone stupid enough they will lure them into personal contact and beat them up or kill them.
Pix - Jul 22, 2007 8:38:40 pm PDT #7671 of 10001
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie
this guy started writing back to all his spammers. Some of the responses were really off-the hook, too. Jonathan Something. Yeah, I can see how that might happen.
Heh. That Jonathan inspired my other friend Jon to start a similar campaign. He had the best time spamming the spammers.
Laga - Jul 22, 2007 8:40:32 pm PDT #7672 of 10001
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
Small world! (But I wouldn't want to paint it)
Pix - Jul 22, 2007 8:41:33 pm PDT #7673 of 10001
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie
I edited and made you look crazy. Sorry--I was confusing my Jonathans.
Typo Boy - Jul 22, 2007 8:43:01 pm PDT #7674 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
There is also an Atlantic Monthly article about the more troubling aspects of the extreme cases, the ones who turn scam baiting into a full time hobby -- basically that the mostly white scam baiters end up with tropy rooms full of photos of black people humiliating themselves.
Laga - Jul 22, 2007 9:04:43 pm PDT #7675 of 10001
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I edited and made you look crazy.
Usually no editing is required.
Laga - Jul 22, 2007 9:21:22 pm PDT #7676 of 10001
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I'm digging this Atlantic Monthly article but I think
"Are the scam-baiters Jedi-like cyber-guardians taking up arms against the Web’s Dark Side, Spam-scam, or are they cyber-vigilantes engaging in vicious pranks that can, at times, border on racism?"
is a bit of an understatement. I have read more than one scam-baiting tale that was quite blatantly racist. Still I have a hard time empathizing with the "victims."