Re:Scamming the scammer
by amvp on Sunday July 12, 2009 @05:52AM
(#700016)
Yes. If scammers are motivated by greed and desperation, scam baiters seem largely motivated by a desire to humiliate, or just feel superior to the scammers.
There is a 'trophy room' on that site where scammers are posed often naked, sometimes with their wives/partners) with juvenile signs, generally framed by the obvious trappings of poverty.
Re:Scamming the scammer
by Bjoern on Saturday July 11, 2009 @01:58PM
(#699394)
The website and the idea are really great. I can only advise everyone who doesn't know what 419 scam is to read this.
The sad truth though is that it works, there are people who still fall for this (419 scam) and there are also people who buy stuff when they see advertisement in their inbox (ad emails) - even if it's only 1 in 10000 it is enough.
Re:Scamming the scammer
by dan_the_welder on Sunday July 12, 2009 @06:32AM
(#700036)
How about desperation?
It's easy to talk about our superior standard of living, but there is an edge, a steep edge and lots of people are near enough to it to consider crazy things.
Re:Scamming the scammer
by DTrejo on Saturday July 11, 2009 @11:53PM
(#699801)
Congratulations to Nicholas Okorie for being the first scammer on the planet to be suckered into having a tattoo!
I have a few more scammers going through the same process, and they are showing a little more resistance than Okorie. Just shows what sheer greed can do to you I suppose.
Okorie may or may not be greedy, but I would say he is desperate. He scams people because there are very few opportunities to make money in Nigeria. Of course it is not right for him to scam people, but the whole situation is not much improved by fighting back. As a result, Okorie becomes even more desperate and 419eater wastes his time.
Who knows, instead of scamming Okorie might switch to the kidnapping business or something.
The sad truth though is that it works, there are people who still fall for this (419 scam) and there are also people who buy stuff when they see advertisement in their inbox (ad emails) - even if it's only 1 in 10000 it is enough.
The only reason it works at all is because people don't stop to think "Hey, I'm absolutely nobody, why aproach me ?". That and greed...
I have a few more scammers going through the same process, and they are showing a little more resistance than Okorie. Just shows what sheer greed can do to you I suppose.
Okorie may or may not be greedy, but I would say he is desperate. He scams people because there are very few opportunities to make money in Nigeria. Of course it is not right for him to scam people, but the whole situation is not much improved by fighting back. As a result, Okorie becomes even more desperate and 419eater wastes his time.
Who knows, instead of scamming Okorie might switch to the kidnapping business or something.