Australian newspaper article

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Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:58 pm

Sorry, Did they run out of news to report in Australia today?

I mean, what the hell is this story actually about??? It tells absolutely nothing, there is no substance to her argument and no real comparitives to talk about. You guys are right, research is key to every journalistic angle and Emma has failed to do one bit of it!

She is a Z list reporter who will vanish out of the industry overnight with stories like this... Where have we gone too far? WHERE???? no, really.... WHERE!!!!!!????!!!!!

Emma (and i know you will read this) try reporting on something you know a little more about rather than try scrambling around in the dark to come up with a story that has no reference to anything currently in the Australian news and something that you clearly have no idea about.

I suggest maybe reporting on Kangaroo sightings on the open road and the statistics behind the death toll each year of those hit by cars.

Journalism at its worst!

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:00 pm

Bubble Gum Journalism. Mad

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 82

Her website shows she won the Henry Lawson award in 1997; has she let things slide since then or is this a one off on a slow news day?

I still think she's cute though, nice eyes...

Emma, sign up and come on here, have a chat. Do a followup article!

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:32 pm

I think she began as a columnist a la Zoe Heller (IIRC Private Eye references) - writing long screeds about herself.

But someone at the Oz must have decided the time had come to spread her wings a little... Rolling Eyes

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:39 pm

^Typical - i might have guessed

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:48 pm

Welcome to Australian journalism Crying or Very sad

Assuming only the brightest and the best are picked to work on our only national newspaper (The Australian) you can imagine what the local rags churn out most of the time. There's not many things I miss about the UK but decent newspapers and well informed, intelligent journalism is one of them. And Radio 4.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:52 pm

and www.blogtalkradio.com/ibc i hope compares with radio 4 from a scambaiting perspective....

This woman is a disgrace to the journalistic society and deserves as much stick from the people of OZ as the people of the UK gave to Russell Brand and jonathan Ross

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:12 pm

At the top of the page in The Australian there is a link for letters. I did not investigate it too deeply (my firewall was acting up) but I think you could write a letter to the editor responding to her article.

What I am suggesting is that respectful, sober letters, setting forth the true facts about scammers, might be a reasonable response.

Non-reasonable response: Try to get your mugu tattooed with the name "Emma Toms" and send her the picture!

Bruin

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

^^^ Spoilsport.

I'm thinking that if we can get enough lads tatooed with "Emma Toms" we could start an Emma Toms gang that could rival the Gomer Boyz.
Okay, I'm kidding. Sorta. Very Happy

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 62

There was a picture of a lad posted recently ( from an old bait). He was stripped naked, holding two burning torches in each hand, standing legs apart with a laptop tied to his ghoolies dangling down (ouch).

I lost the thread for it, but someone should send it to Emma...if she doesn't find it funny then she must be dead.

I mean, she's meant to be an Austrailian for f**k sake!

Did she have a sense of humour bypass?

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:05 pm

Maybe the world went through a phase adjustment when she breathed in her hair spray - but is that an Australian accusing poms of having a crude sense of humour ? Laughing

Maybe it's her first fledgling attempt at irony.

Clive James she ain't.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:16 pm

@Bruin

Quote:

Try to get your mugu tattooed with the name "Emma Toms" and send her the picture!

That would be hilarious.

As Gnasher pointed out, Australian journalism works on the exclusion principle; once you've excluded illiterates, brain donors, everyone who lives outside Sydney or Melbourne, and people who want to work for a living, you are left with a small pool (of people) who fill the positions on the main newspapers.

There is no competition for jobs, so people can get away with writing any old sort of uninformed crap, especially if they can label it 'opinion', which this piece was.

The space where it appeared is in fact supposed to be for humorous journalism. Sadly, Emma has the sense of humour of a snail trifle, and much less inventiveness. Sad

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:43 pm

I sent a lovely email to her. I think we're going to be bestest of friends.

Could everyone post a few links to the reality of what these victims lose. I would want her to have to do any searching, or research. That would be asking too much.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

http://www.scam-info-links.info/scam_victim_news.html

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 62

In a way, I feel a kind of comfort, knowing that it's just not in the UK that the criminal is made out to be the 'victim' in this topsy-turvey PC World.

Sniff, sniff...some poor innocent had a picture of himself taken with a sign saying 'arse bandit'.

The horror, the horror, the horror....

Bwwwwwhahahahahahahahahaha! Twisted Evil

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:46 pm

@Ima, just reading the headlines on that link is sobering. I really hope she reads that - the whole articles, not just the headlines.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:58 pm

Now how do I take her picture and use it as my avatar? Laughing

Then month's in the future, when Emma Toms is forgotten, people will be asking - "Who is that woman with the incredible teeth that you have as your avatar?"

I've e-mailed her, nice and politely, and told her how I remember the sense of shock and anger here on the eater when that scam victim was kidnapped in South Africa, dragged behind a car, then set alight.

I also told her about the time I got to warn a young man in Sydney who had already sent $3500 and was going to the bank to arrange a loan for a further $25,00 to send to his scammer.

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:23 am

I have invited her to scamwarners.com and asked her to make a difference by writing about victims and how to avoid becoming one.

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:16 am

I think I'd be wary about giving this woman too much attention -- she might take it as validation of her criticisms ("Look, readers, what a hornet's nest I stirred up among those racist and homophobic scambaiters....") Sad

Just my 2 kobo.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:21 am

That article of Emma's was the biggest bunch of ill informed lad hugging crap I've ever seen in my life. She doesn't even acknowledge that the scammers are criminals, for God sakes. I don't ever know how she ever graduated from high shool. If I turned over a "paper" like that for an exercise in researching and reporting on a topic, I would have failed English class, for sure. Did she get a degree in journalism, as well? I suspect she paid for it from one of those fake colleges the scammers run, and that we try to shut down.

I hope she does come here, and learn a thing or two about the real truth. If she tries baiting a few lads, it might even help improve her writing and researching skills. I'll bet I've done more practical investigative researching on the Joe and Tina safari than she has ever done in her life.

I hope she does read some of the victim stories, in full. She might understand the reason why we exist, and why we fight the lads day after day.

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:36 am

"The legions of scam-baiters"

We Are Legion

Twisted Evil

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:19 am

Quote:

It's comic book journalism from a seat high atop Mt Olympus with a view clearly obscured by the clouds

You know what they say about woman and clouds, "it's a really nice day when the f*ck off"

Quote:

The legions of scam-baiters"

We Are Legion

Marching ever onword,, trampleing the scammers into the ground.

If John wayne was still around, he would make a movie on the subject

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:50 am

People like Ms. Toms anger me to great lengths. By defying a logical and scientific process towards learning what baiting is all about, she has exploited our efforts here using the oh-so-popular political correctness angle (otherwise known as the pansy outlook) which can cause potential damage to our reputations. It's standard sensationalist journalism where they crucify anything even remotely contrary (see FOX news - At least they got our story right though) without understanding the full beauty of it. Hopefully, people will see this dribel for what it really is, the ramblings of an untalented hack who starves for even a little bit of attention to feed her inane soul and existence.

Sorry if that one seemed harsh, but that was the nicest way I could put it.

EDIT: Typo.

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:05 am

Nurse Nasty wrote:

Could everyone post a few links to the reality of what these victims lose. I would want her to have to do any searching, or research. That would be asking too much.

Paging Mr Gomer !!!! ...... I know that he has a whole shed-load of these things.

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:49 am

I gotta go out shortly but I'll be back this evening and will look out some more

NEW ZEALAND
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/5F778C44DCA2E9B6CC2574FE00154E3E

SOUTH KOREA
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20081023091054865C965335

USA
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/22/woman-borrowed-boss

Apart from the usual “she’s a moron comments there’s also a “Never trust Africa” comment, and there’s a problem.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its annual report for 2007 revealing statistics on internet crime. Overall, the IC3 Report did not offer many reasons to celebrate when compared to the previous year’s report. It revealed, for instance, that while the year witnessed a drop in the number of crimes being reported, the financial losses owing to such crimes witnessed a growth of 20%. The report from IC3, a joint effort between FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, also hinted the statistics may not fully reflect the actual extent of the crimes. It pointed out at its release that the report did not show how many times online crimes go unreported.
The report was not short of interesting sidelights, though. It suggests men, more often than women, fall prey to online scams. Men also lost more in scams financially as compared to women.
Here is a Brief Analysis of the IC3 Statistics on Internet Crime for Year 2007
More number of men than women reported online crime. Statistics might suggest that men actually might be more easily defrauded online. I might suggest, at the risk of raising ire among feminists, maybe men were more forthcoming in reporting scams than women. However, the report was unambiguous as to which of the sexes was more criminally inclined: it showed 75% of online crime to be committed by the stronger sex.
Losses made in scams increased with age. Younger people lost much lesser than older ones in a scam. People over 40 lost around $750 whereas youngsters in their twenties lost a mere $385 to a scam.
Most Used Scams. The most used pitch used by fraudsters to commit crime continues to be Online Auction Fraud, same as last year. Non-delivery of paid goods came second. The third most scam popular with fraudsters was the Confidence Fraud where they trick victims after gaining their confidence.
Scam which earned the highest. In terms of earnings, fraudsters made most money using the investment fraud. This involved duping their victims to invest in bogus schemes or on assets that were non-existent.
Rising Scams. The report also highlighted scams that had witnessed a spurt in the number of reported cases. It shortlisted Online Dating, Selling of Pets online and cashing of Fake Checks to be scams that were sprouting more frequently on American soil.
The authorities must be worried at the rise in financial loss that online crimes had brought forth. Citizens were shorn of a total of nearly $240 Million; i.e $40 Million more than in 2006. The Center said the increase could be due to success enjoyed by new schemes launched by fraudsters and also maybe due to the increasing trend of purchasing costlier electronic goods online.
The complete report can be downloaded here (PDF File).

Next link - the story of a poor scammer

http://www.crime-research.org/news/08.08.2005/1413/

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