Scamproofing your friends and family.

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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:39 pm

Has anyone else ever done this?

I was thinking of sending out a typical 419-scam email from a fake email address to all of my contacts that I have in my RL email address.

Hopefully none of them would bite, but when/if they did, I could reveal my actual identity and explain what a 419 scam is etc.

Anyone ever done this? Suggestions?

I don't believe this is breaking any kind of rule, but please inform me if you think it's a bad idea.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:58 pm

That's an approach I didn't think of before .. could work, however you could never address all scam types in one email. One may be sensitive to love scams, others to lottery and what have you .. I think it's a better idea to send an informative mail about the various types of scams to your contacts.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:05 pm

^^^

Yeah good point.
I just figure that it could be a good safeguard measure if as baiters we all made sure that our own backyards/loved ones were safe and informed before we went on to (hopefully) protect other innocents.

If every one of us did that, we could significantly reduce the number of targets.

It seems as though too many people learn about this stuff after its way too late.

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:21 pm

^^^

I think you have a brilliant idea there.

Perhaps someone could put together a short mail with advice on things to watch out for.

Then we mail to all our contacts, requesting them to mail to all their contacts.

My 2p worth. Maybe admin may comment on whether it is workable or wise?

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:17 pm

I did send an informative warning mail to all my contacts about 419 scams and their variety's to my friends and family a few months ago. Some of them never ever had seen scams like this, so there's no way telling how they would have reacted if they received one. Others replied you'd really have to be an idiot to fall for these tricks. Either way I see it as a duty to educate them. I hate the thought of me collecting trophies and having fun with these scumbags, while a friend gets separated from his life savings at the same time by a vlad when I could have prevented it.

Education is important !

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:50 pm

Yeah why not give it a go?

One thing I'd discourage though is asking people to forward it on - All it does is create lists of ripe email addresses for a spammer or scammer if they ever get it forwarded, and frankly most people I know are not savvy enough to BCC...

419Eater is my life Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Posts: 479

I like the idea of sending the fake scam

.. then a day or two later sending the informative email

.... then if anyone replies to fake scam.. well.. be creative in your re-education email from RL

Very Happy

---

I have a form email I send to people in RL re-educating them about use of BCC

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:22 am

If Cousin Carl or Friend Flo wanted to warn me about scam mails and did this by sending me a faked one, and I responded ..... I think I might be very embarrassed that they had therefore seen my response about how I really needed a loan at this time or how I was prepared to claim I was next-of-kin to an unknown person on the other side of the world, or that they had read my 'pre-love letter' to a person I thought was a prospective suitor.

And such would be my embarrassment, I don't think I'd thank Cousin Carl or Friend Flo for their practical lesson.

I think I'd prefer the information presented as information, rather than an exposé of my non-public self. There is a chance that your family and friends might feel the same way.

Master Baiter Joined: 23 Sep 2008 Posts: 236

I agree with Branwen, it does have the potential to go wrong. But sending an informative email to everyone sounds like a fantastic idea. Maybe open it with a typical scam, and then go into the information after, so there is some context?

Everytime I'm round at someone's house (friend, family, whatever), and I see that they have a computer, I always ask if they get a lot of emails. I then say something like.

"This may sound rather daft, but are you aware of scam emails?"

Most of them tend to know about the phishing ones, but I explain them in more details, and then cover all the scams that 419eater have taught me. I tell them some of the stories that I've read on here, and explain that the victims should not be considered to be greedy so-and-sos who got what they deserved.

So far everyone I've talked to has been receptive and I hope that word is getting round my local area. As I've said in another post, I'm putting articles in the local paper and magazine, and have distibuted leaflets round my church.

The thought that a scammer could try and fleece some of the lovely people in my area makes my blood boil.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:34 am

Scamproof your friends and family

Wink

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:17 pm

I can't think of anyone in my contact list who would react positively to such an act. At best they would think of this as a wind-up or practical joke of some kind, and I hate to think of what the worst would be (see Branwen's comment above).

I also don't like the idea of sending messages that obviously look like spam or scam from my own machine, even if it goes via gmail or some other system that strips the sending IP address. I correspond with enough scammers that I want to make sure my hands are completely clean of apparent scamming acts myself.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:35 pm

I thinks that Windy's suggestion is the best .... If you feel the need to educate your real life contacts (ITPs) don't bait them, send them a link to eater, and explain why you've sent it.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:07 pm

^^ I always include an Eater link for the one's interested. By the reactions I get I have to conclude we share a special kind of humor here that not everybody understands Very Happy

So I send a link to scamwarners.com also.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:14 pm

I still think it is not a bad idea.

I think your freinds and families embarassment might be outweighed by their releif. Especially if you send them some links to the horror stories in the news as part of their education email to show them what could happen if it were real.

Just my 2p

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