Adopt a scammer: Geeks fighting the 419 scammers and having fun doing it

Everyone has gotten at least one of these. Someone in Nigeria has died and left 879 billion dollars to them, but it is a) in a foreign bank b)being held from the poor recipient unjustly c) waiting on someone to pay some fees or any number of other reasons why the recipient can't get the money. Some of the situations change to ruthless industrial tycoons who face death and are now repentant and want to disburse their riches to widows in refugee camps.

These are all scams, of course. The practice is to get you to send some money to facilitate transfer, pay a bribe, pay shipping or whatever, so they can get you the money. Of course, there is no money. They take it and come back and ask for more, until you realize you are being scammed or run out of money. They are called 419 scams, after the section of the Nigerian penal code which forbids such activity (most originate in Nigeria, where everyone from the politicians to judges to police are involved with them). Although I find it hard to believe that anyone could fall for such idiocy, the FBI says that they have swindled people out of millions of dollars. Some have realized they have been swindled, gone to Nigeria to investigate, and been murdered.

There is now a legitimate, legal, and FUN (if you are a nerdy type) way to fight back. A number of sites have sprung up with info on how to “adopt” a scammer. They make great pets, and if you treat them right, can make for hours of entertainment.
1)See how many times you can get them to go to the Western Union Office, then to a bank, then to another bank, then to a non-existent bank in another town to get the money you have “sent” them. My personal record is 13 trips, with three of them to help the F.B. I. “investigate the corrupt Western Union office there in Lagos which has been misappropriating funds.”
2)A corollary is to agree to meet them at the airport. Of course, you will need to identify them when you get off the plane with a suitcase with $130,000 in cash, right? They need to hold up a sign with your name (NOTE: NEVER NEVER NEVER use your real name with these people. They may be stupid but they are violent savage criminals who would do you real harm if they can. Never give them real personal info. Stick with bogus email addresses from yahoo or some other free email site.) My favorite is to use the name of my company, Integrated FELCH Valves, Inc., a major international corporation. My name is Ayama Dildo and I am an industrial magnate with scads of money but the common sense of a retarded paramecium. Make them take a picture of themselves holding a sign with your name. Let them know it is for “security.” I have about 30 pics of lads from Lagos proclaiming “I FELCH,” but my fave is a mugu (Nigerian for “imbecile dirtbag”or something close) who wanted to distinguish himself from the large contingent of accountants from Felch, inc coming into to Ghana on my flight. We decided his code name was to be “iguanas.” That is right, my pic shows him showing off a sign proclaiming “I Felch – Iguanas.” (he has a Bible in his other hand and a big pleasant smile).
3)All they time they are responding to you, they cannot be screwing some old or infirm person out of their moneys. However, even if you don't want any contact with these people (but I am telling you, criminal greed will drive them to amusing activity), they can be shut down simply by being spam bombed out of existence. Every scammer email who writes you could get signed up for about 500 or so gay porn sites (google search for them and then harvest the sites with a script).
4)You can “drain” their fake bank sites. These people put up web sites purporting to be banks, or auctions or sweepstake sites. They are cheap, and only pay for a gig or two of bandwidth. Some enterprising artists (artists against 419 at www.aa419.org )have come up with a website called “lad vampire” which goes to the site, downloads a gif image, deletes and d/l's another one, over and over again. This literally drains the account and forces the website off the net. All you have to do is connect to the site. If you have broadband, you can leave your machine linked to the site and put a scammer out of business while you are at work. I leave mine hooked up at night. So far, they have nuked over 450 fake banks. There is another program called mugu marauder (google on it) which you download and install on your machine to do this. It is a windows executable that runs shakily under wine, so I don't know much about it.
5)There are a ton of 419 baiter sites, and a whole geek culture who has found that abusing a mugu sometimes is better than having a date (I don't really believe that, just thought I would beat the flames to the punch)

Try these sites for fun
http//:www.scamorama.com
http://www.aa419.com
http://www.419eater.com

One of our own Freepers does this. Lowbridge

http://www.freewebs.com/lowbridge/

Oh my...Lowbridge owns...thanks for the link!

ping for later

I checked out your website, you ROCK!

I had a separate folder just for those emails, but I never did anything with them. My favorite was the guy who admitted he embezzled money, and needed an American to help him launder it.

Check out this website. Don't laugh too loud at work.

Three years ago, I personally provided information to local FBI office in New Haven CT that was graciously received. However, nothing ever amounted to it. They were well aware of the specifics beforehand and seemed to be more interested in cautioning me about scams (like I'm some kind of idiot) than pursuing perpetrators.

For a while in ’02, I followed a particularly funny site where correspondence with a few scammers is posted. It’s a funny read and you can easily see how the swindlers at the other end are not too bright. So if you have the time, it’s great sport. I’m just happy to sit on the sidelines and observe.

Take a peek. It hasn’t been recently updated but it’s still hilarious:

Click Here:

marking, for later laffs...