new here + my Mom's scam nightmare story.

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 8

been a fan/lurker of this site for some time....about 4 years now.....

Which was right around the time my mom got scammed after my Dad died. It was the worst summer of my life, she was scammed out of her entire life savings even after we tried to prove to her she was being scammed.
The scammer not only preyed on her during her grieving, he also took advantage her Christian beliefs to gain her trust.
In the end she not only lost all her money, but her home, her car and had to sell many family heirlooms to keep sending this "beast" money.
When promised money in return, she was sent fake money orders, which she managed to cash for $1000 and thought nothing of it.
We managed to finally get her help, but only after loosing everything my Father worked so hard in his life to get.
To this day this person was never caught, Yahoo chat/mail (the service being used to scam) gave absolutely no help to apprehend this "beast" and no government agency would help us.
The president of the bank she used was the only helpful person in the long run. Which froze her bank account.

It was the worst nightmare summer for me and my sisters that we have ever lived through.

So more power to this site!! and Damn the scammers, full speed ahead for all of you!!

but be careful out there!!!

I love reading about the scammers getting scammed themselves.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:19 pm

Welcome here, that's quite the story there, but they do prey on lonely people that can't compare notes with other people to check reality. Any means is okay for them. I hope your mom has recovered financially.
Local authorities not doing anything drives me crazy too, "To Serve and Protect" but only from your neighbors, we don't do international, sorry.
Part is understandable, but sometimes I forget to notice that and even stop baiting as it isn't going to change anything, but it does.
Imagine we wouldn't bait, all that knowledge would be gone, most victims don't dare to tell they have been stupid/ too trusting so nobody would get warned and no websites would post warnings, banks had no clues, just lots of bad customers with false cheques. So in my normal time I bait Laughing

You run into lots of emotions every now and then when you talk to an almost or has been victim, it must have been hard for the whole family.
Now if you feel the need to give it a try, you know where to go, I don't have to tell you read lots, but a Mentor always comes in handy as a backup.
Thanks for sharing and hang around, who knows there might be a baiter in there somewhere Wink

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:19 pm

Welcome to the eater mate. Sorry to hear your story, as you have found out te hard way, the lads are worthless scumbags who will stoop to anything. Unfortunately most agencies can't or won't do anything and the same goes for most email providers. Stick around and try some baiting if it tickles your fancy.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:53 pm

Hi Rufus, sorry to hear your story too, unfortunately it's all too common.
Lad's are a bit like colorado beetles - you squash one and another 10 take his place. There isn't much authorities can do apart from close down the internet. The best weapon is education, so warning all your friends about these scams goes a long way, and direct them to our sister site www.scamwarners.com Smile

The best we can offer as compensation is to give as many lads as much pain as possible.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 8

To this day (4 years now) I have quietly boycotted every single service Yahoo has to offer. I am a Linux user and have no use for yahoo chat or messenger anyway. I have discouraged all my friends, acquaintances and family from using it as well.
Only recently did the acquisition of the Flickr service by yahoo cause me to have to reactivate an id to use there.

I wrote the "beast" that scammed my mom several times to beg for him to leave her alone and stop the madness. The guy never had the courage or integrity to email me back. I've since lost the email addy (for all the good it would do now.) 1000 tortures for this guy would never be enough to satisfy my hatred and anger I still feel today for him.

And on top of that I get a scam mail in MSN almost weekly to keep my anger going. On occasion I answer a few with fire, anger and condemning words for them, but mostly I just delete them.

Perhaps with this forum, I can use to vent my anger (if you guys don't mind a bit of venting once in a while) and help heal some of the pain I still feel. plus get a few laughs, my fav story here is "the church of the painted nipple" (something like that). I could hardly stop laughing long enough to finish reading the whole thing.

Power to you guys again!!!!

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:40 pm

Welcome, rufus. Very Happy

I am sorry that it's a sad story that marks your move from lurking to posting, but your desire for vengeance will be put to good use here. Twisted Evil

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:50 pm

Sorry to hear your story. It's unfair to blame Yahoo! though. They are only one of very many freee webmail providers. They provide a useful service, but like many useful services, scammers can abuse them.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:27 pm

Welcome to Eater RTF. Sorry to hear such a sad story. Stick around and maybe you too will get the inspiration to give the lads hell.

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

Sometimes I feel like I should stop scambaiting and spend more time in the outside world getting some fresh air, or turn my PC off and pick up a book. But then I read a story like this and I know I'm not just wasting my life chasing these b****rds Mad

Sorry to here what happened to your mum but sadly after a couple of months of being on here you fail to be amazed as to just how low a scammer will stoop to make even a dollar.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:58 pm

Sad story, I always hate to read about the successful scams .. and I'm still stupefied there's still people falling for them, but it's the sad truth. There's only 2 ways for us to fight the bast***s:

1- Educate your circle of contacts, friends, family, colleagues about these scams. I would never forgive myself if I saw my friends falling for these scams, while, in the mean time, I'm baiting these goatf***ers ..

2- Bait them. Hard ! Cause them pain as much as you can. At least you found your way here, which is good. I guess you will find lots of ideas how to get back at them over here..

At everyone: educate your acquaintances !

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 8

Thanks to everyone for the welcomes and words of encouragement!!

I realize yahoo (with all services) has its good and bad. It's just their lack of help that made me so angry @ them.

Thanks again everyone......sorry I just now realized I did not post this in the introduction thread.

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:05 pm

rufus_t_firefly wrote:

sorry I just now realized I did not post this in the introduction thread.

Not a problem. Very Happy

It's stories like yours that keep us motivated, and also help alert others. Smile

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:06 pm

Welcome, Rufus Very Happy

Don't worry about where you posted this - a Mod will move it if necessary. Smile

I'm glad it's in a separate thread, though, because it has more impact than as part of another thread. And we all need to be reminded now and again of why we do what we do. If I get bored during a 2-hour chat with my love-lad, I try to remember that the time I spend on him he's not spending on some real victim. And the more time I spend on a lad, the more he's hooked, and the more effort he will put into my bait - at the expense of his other scams. Twisted Evil

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:08 am

Quote:

Don't worry about where you posted this - a Mod will move it if necessary.

And gone are your brownie points Laughing

But I guess that this subject is in the perfect place here anyway

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:13 am

RTF,
I too want to say how sorry I am for what you and your family have been through.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:08 am

Welcome from me too. I'm very sorry to read about your mother. Unfortunately, she sounds she was in the exact sort of situation scammers tend to thrive on.

Thanks for sharing your story. It's easy for us to lose sight of the serious side of all of this. All too many people believe no one would ever fall for scams like these.

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:26 am

I'm sorry RTF!

We will help you get even. Twisted Evil

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:59 am

It's often easy to feel pity for scammers who may appear dumb, llkeable and goofy.

People are entitled to their own views, and opinions and operate within their own ethical limits, but only those who have suffered at the hands of a scammer (and those who deal with victims) know the real pain and damage they can inflict.

Once their scam comes into my inbox - that's all the mistake a scammer needs to make for me. The only limit is my skill and his stupidity.

Scammers beware. Twisted Evil

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:03 pm

Quote:

To this day this person was never caught, Yahoo chat/mail (the service being used to scam) gave absolutely no help to apprehend this "beast" and no government agency would help us.

Unfortunately, the chances of a scammer actually getting caught are about as close to zero as possible. They're anonymous, generally using all fake identifying data and documents, and anonymous, prepaid cell phones. Add to that the completely anonymous nature of free email/chat services, plus the fact that most of them use public web cafes that may be frequented by dozens or even hundreds of other scammers using equally anonymous/fake details. IP addresses often aren't as pinpoint accurate as television and films would have you believe. Moneygram/Western Union receiver information is useless. And frankly, most of the countries where they operate don't give a darn anyway, even if you could deliver up the scammer with a big red bow on top. The police may even be in on the take, accepting bribes to leave scammers alone.

Even if the foreign authorities in the countries where most scammers are based were cooperative, identifying the actual scammer who contacted you is about like finding a particular needle in a one ton pile of needles. Expecting Yahoo to do something is a touch unrealistic. Yahoo has zero ability to make the foreign authorities give a damn, even if they could realistically narrow down the identity of the scammer.

The lack of law enforcement/government help is part international jurisdiction, part economical. Given the low odds of actually managing to identify a scammer and get the foreign authorities to cooperate in prosecuting him, it's generally not worth spending the hundreds of people hours and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources a proper investigation would take.

It's a shame, but international dealings and dealings on the internet, particularly, are still very much the Wild Wild West. I wish I could say I'm not used to hearing stories like your mother's, but they're all too common. Even worse, that's not even at the top of the "how low will a scammer go" list.

As several people upthread have already said, welcome, and keep in mind the best revenge is educating people about what these scammers are capable of and how they operate. Every person you warn/educate is one less potential victim. And that's the only way we're ever going to cut into scammer numbers, is by making it unprofitable.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 8

I appreciate everyone's input to my Mom's story here. Makes me feel good about the care and concern for the victims of the scamming "beasts".

been spending my newbie time reading the FAQ's, sticky posts, required reading list and several of the past and present info. Well in between tasks of a huge bedroom remodel I did this weekend, floors, walls, window trim, paint, etc.

Although thorough, concise and full of useful info several of them have spawned a few unanswered questions in by cautious (probably hyper-cautious) frame of mind.
Just to give a little preface to this list, I'm a unix/linux sysadmin and spend my work days setting up and debugging Apache web servers and web proxies for the transportation industry company I work for. Although far from expert status, I'm no slouch when it comes to web server stuff.

My questions:

Web servers can be setup to track and capture tons of IP address info ie. country of origin, date time, tracking from and to context paths, etc

1. do you guys use anonymous surfing tools like Tor, etc that mask your IP address when going to the various websites?

2. Do you ever get kicked by the various webmail sites because of multiple email addresses?

Safety is a huge concern with me.

3. How safe to you guys feel about the precautions you use to mask your real life from your baiter life??

4. do you guys ever worry about phishing sites being used to track/steal info??

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

^^^ Safety is rule #1,2 and 4 around here. Rule #3 is to always make sure the mod fridge is stocked with cold beer, but that's another story.

You'll see that a good majority of folks here, myself included, use gmail. There's a reason for that, as yahoo makes it easy to track IP addresses.

I'll join the rest of the folks and say thank you for sharing your mom's story. I've talked to some people that think I'm a cold, heartless bastage for taking joy in lads stredded (offical eater spelling) in Chad, or getting beat up by the FESTAC boys, or any of the other versions of hell that baiters on this board put the lads through. People like your mom are the reason why the majority of us are here doing what we do.

Well, that and it allows the cold, heartless bastage side of us to have some fun. Very Happy

Read more stickies, sign up for a mentor, and grab some lads. Sadly, there are lots of them out there.

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:24 am

Personally, I think proxies and such are unnecessary. Most of my baiting accounts strip IPs, but not all of them. My IP puts me in a very populated area, and it would be impossible to find me from a few emails. I would never bait from a personal account, but that has more to do with avoiding spam than safety.

If you are baiting Vlads (Russian scammers) a little extra caution might be a good idea, but typical advance fee fraud lads are not typically very tech savvy, and more than likely, they won't invest time or money on something as unprofitable as revenge.

In my time here, I have never heard of a scammer harming a baiter in any way. While there have been some sudden, unexplained disappearances, most can probably be attributed to undramatic factors like job changes or angry spouses. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

rufus_t_firefly wrote:

1. do you guys use anonymous surfing tools like Tor, etc that mask your IP address when going to the various websites?

2. Do you ever get kicked by the various webmail sites because of multiple email addresses?

Safety is a huge concern with me.

3. How safe to you guys feel about the precautions you use to mask your real life from your baiter life??

4. do you guys ever worry about phishing sites being used to track/steal info??

#1 No-my IP resolves to at least 20 miles from my door and i live in a city of at least 1 million people. You can see yours using this http://www.ip-adress.com/ipaddresstolocation/

#2 No-fastmail is baiter friendly and my gmail account got bombed by a lad i upset-so after forwarding all the spam back to him i emailed gmail. Told them what i do, what accounts i do it from and why my account was being bombed my accounts never got switched off and i've had no problems since when my other account got bombed two days later.

#3 Safe enough. My user name and any log in details are exclusive to here and i signed up with BS info.

#4 No-i do minimal financial stuff online and never open any email attachments from someone i haven't met in real life.

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