How many lads?

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 36

I was just wondering if anyone has any idea what how many lads are out there and active? We can probably get a more accurate figure for the number of baiters...

So, what would the baiter/lad ratio be? I am just thinking what are the chances of stumbling across the same lad a second time?

Any ideas anyone?

BrokenEnglish
(a newbie getting stuck in) Very Happy

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:22 am

Lads: upwards of 100k

Chances of stumbling across the same lad twice: strong. You can always follow the lad around and bait him from multiple addresses.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:19 am

154,283.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:06 pm

If you include lads, vlads and other scumbag scammers then possibly in the millions. No one really knows but the numbers do seem to be increasing.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:14 pm

You can get some idea by looking at lists of know scammer email addresses. For example this one.

Otherwise, the short answer is too many.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:18 pm

Yeah, if it's African lads then we're talking anywhere around the 200,000 mark. No one is really sure, it's hard to quantify. It's certainly more than tens of thousands, but not in the millions.

As Rodus says, if you add up all the Lads, Vlads, Phads, and any other con merchants that use the internet, then I'd agree that it's possibly in the low millions.

Baiters? A few thousand is my guess, maximum 10,000.

Chances of running into the same lad? Nil, if you don't want to. There's fresh meat on every corner. And like Tub says, if you WANT to bump into the same lad, then you have every chance. You already know where to find him!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 36

OK got it. Plenty to go round then. But do scammers get more cynical the more times they are baited, or are they too stupid?

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:27 pm

^^Depends really. If you ditch him leaving the impression that you we're a real vic 'the one that got away' and he thinks he screwed up somehow then he'll easily be re-baitable. If you suddenly tell a lad you're a baiter and have been wasting his time then he'll be more suspicious in the future but this can also help real life vics as he may accuse them of being baiters when they aren't. There's always plenty of lads to go around, they outnumber baiters massively.

Thinking all lads are stupid is the quickest way to a ruined bait. They aren't. Sure you get some very dumb ones but there are also many intelligent and cunning lads, thats how they make money.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:30 pm

^^ That's the idea when it comes to the site-accepted practice of non-burning. If the you make it through an entire bait (before rebaiting, that is) without the lad knowing he's been baited, he won't know to become cynical or cautious. He'll probably think you were just a dumb shit that couldn't get anything right.

Now, if you're REALLY dishing out the lad-pain and get him on some crazy-ass money/time wasting project (check out frozboz's art or some of the huge safaris from the pros) then the hope is that they'll lose so much and be so humiliated that they give up scamming altogether and get a damn job.

Edit: Beaten by Rodus. I hate hunt and peck typing Sad

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:33 pm

^^If I remember rightly I think a baiter here was pretty sure that one of his lads went 'straight', can't remember who though. Rare as hens teeth though, these guys are career criminals, lazy, manipulative and highly unpleasant (and that's just the baiters Laughing

)

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:38 pm

^^ I always like to think that those two guys that YW sent to Chad that were never heard from again just ended up buying an ice cream truck and living a simpler life. Then again, I'm a dreamer. Laughing

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:46 pm

When I saw the title, I thought this thread was about screwing in a light bulb - no luck Sad

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I am a baristor OK.am to important to screw lightbulbs ok.go to westernunon an send $3,000 US DOLLARS to [email protected] OK.Test question Why is it dark.Answer There is no light.

I always wonder about one failed bait I had really early on. It was a standard orphan bait and I ripped her a new one and challenged her to get a job. Weeks later she replied that my mail had challenged her and she had got a job cleaning a factory and was making new friends. I never heard anything again even when I tried re-baiting. If the scammer had twigged and dropped me, why bother responding even once? And if not, why not continue to respond? On the other hand her mail was dodgy from the start, and/or he may have just put me aside for a different angle later.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:13 pm

I know that some politically correct, bleeding heart is going to take offence to this, but it seems to me that there are almost as many 419 scammers out there as there are people who have Internet access in West Africa. Yes, there are exceptions.

Considering that 419 is practically celebrated as a national past time in parts of West Africa, the number is most likely in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even more. People that do not need to be trying it seem to try it at some point, much like people in the West play lotteries (real ones). Fortunately, most probably give it up pretty quick when they realize how much work it is to be successful at it.

See this recent thread for a better explanation of the motivation behind 419. http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130198