Got the name of one of my mom's scammers

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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:15 pm

Wow, I just checked mom's email and they have been trying to get a hold of her through instant messanger like crazy!
I spoke with her this morning and she said that they rang her phone all night long too. She promised me that she didn't answer any of them.
Luckily her phone number is now changed. It took 24 hours for it to get changed over, but she now has a new number. Thank God!

I'm still going through her emails, and she did tell me that there were several that she sent money to. Not just one. Geeeezzzzz.

So I guess the best thing to do is just ignore these guys emails and instant messages? So far I haven't responded to any of them, and they are prolly starting to worry that their gravy train has derailed since her phone number doesn't work anymore. Laughing

Sally

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:40 pm

Yes - completely ignore everything. Since they know she has paid before they will try hard, very hard. They won't give up easily, but once they get the message they won't get any more they'll calm down (And I don't mean replying to them and telling them you don't believe them - COMPLETE radio silence). I believe it has been said before, but the thing you really need to watch out for now is the recovery scam. If you get mails telling you they were able to arrest them and you can get a refund, don't buy it. There will be just a small fee for the documents and... well you get the idea.

Good luck, keep it up Smile

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:45 pm

Sally
We are here to help, I have been reading your posts in Scamwarners and the advice you have been given there is spot on, as is the advice that all of us here have offered

Don't be afraid to ask questions, but remember to Bait Safe and ask for a mentor they are invaluble till you find your feet

Good Luck

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:22 pm

How would I get in touch with a mentor?
I would like to jack with them, but I don't want to screw it up, so I think a mentor would be a good idea too.

Sally

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:33 pm

Post your mentor request here: http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122306
Welcome to Eater and sorry to hear about your mum.

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:37 pm

You can sign up for a mentor in this thread: (CLICKY)

I do have to warn you; as you are emotionally involved with these scammers it might not be a good thing to do. It may be very confronting and emotionally a heavy burden. In the end it's your choice, but it may become a very tough ride. Please don't underestimate the emotional effect it may cause on you - take it from someone who's been there.

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:19 pm

Thanks for the link.
It was right under my nose, I just skipped past it I guess.
My request for a mentor is in.

Thanks for the emotional warning, but I really feel like I have to do this. From the bottom of my very soul I have to do this. There is no telling how many people these jerk offs have bled dry. If I keep them away from anyone at all, that will be satisfaction enough.
Of course I have a vendetta against them and feel they need to be punished, even if just a tiny bit, but I also keep wondering how many people got ripped off by the same guys that ripped mom off.

She is really torn up by all this, not just financially, but mentally she is beat down. Feeling like she had nobody to turn to. She felt like she couldn't even tell her own daughter, the only one that could get her out of this mess. She went without groceries for crying out loud.
I can only imagine how it has torn up so many peoples lives.

I just have to mentally prepare myself before I get started.

Sally

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:54 pm

Sally, I read your posts, and I keep thinking what a wonderful daughter you are. Bless you for what you are doing for your mon; she is a very lucky woman - and she raised you right. Wink

I think I can understand your wanting to be part of a mass bait of this scum. Besides the satisfaction of royally messing with them, just think of the wonderful sensation of making them spend the money they stole from your mom on phone calls, scanner time, even safaris. You'll never see that money again anyway - why not make them waste it so they can't enjoy it either? Twisted Evil

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:59 pm

Sally, my heart goes out to you and to your mum. I pray that your mother will get past this bit of nastiness.

Good luck in your future baits, I am very happy to read that you've put in a request for a mentor and that you will bait safely.

I am really glad that you found this forum. Smile

Elite Baiter Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 1731

Sally, there are other people on here who share your story. You are there to support your mom. When you are so emotionally involved it isn't an easy thing to bait. You sound like you can keep yourself safe while you do bait, that is the most important thing.

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:16 pm

Hi scrappinsally

It's hard not to be touched by your concern and pissed about the situation your family faces.

While I understand your desire to punish the scammer, you may need to pause and reflect upon the personal costs this will take upon you and your family. Are you too close to this to be objective? (probably) Can you suck it up and take all of the poison that the scammer will put into your lives? (probably not) They have already taken so much ... are you really keen for them to take more? [rhetorical]

Then there is your wayward relative. Her behaviour is self induced and knowing that she is being taken for a total fool, does not appear to have stopped her from repeating the behaviour at all. I mean what does it take? I wonder if at her age she is depressed ... and whether this activity, as humiliating as it must be, gives her some (quite disturbed) sense of fulfillment or excitement. There must be some payoff for her surely. My point is that she may need to seek medical (psychiatric) help ASAP. I wonder if she might be addicted??

Pease take great care of yourself and your family. Revenge is not always fun, is often achieved at great personal cost and is rarely as painful for the scammer as it the harm done by them to you or others ...

That said ... I'm in on a mass bait of this troll. Let's have at them Twisted Evil

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:22 pm

I'm glad that you've asked for a mentor scrappinsally.
Please cool down a bit and do some Eater reading while you're waiting for your mentor to be assigned.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 27 Jan 2010 Posts: 6

I am very sorry to hear about all the troubles you and your mom have from all this.
I am quite new to all this but had an idea that might be nice to get back at the scammers short term and thougt I'd post it. My idea is breaking the radio silence rule a little but could be good fun.

From what I understand you got your mom a new email adress. So you could put an auto-reply on the old one that says something like:

I am currently moving house. It may take some time before I get your email and reply to it. Because I am moving I will also get a new telephone number which is [insert number here], for all urgent matters please dial that number and leave me a message. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Or you could reply directly to the scammers using that message, instead of the autoreply.

The number you insert leads to a voicemail that has a very very long text. This will keep them busy, cost them money, and hopefully annoy the crap out of them.
A nice idea for the long voicemail could be the 6 mins voicemail message for one of the churches here on the forums?

Not sure what the pro's here think of this, if it's a bad idea I'm sure they will say so. And your mentor or others might have a few ideas to help you set it up if it is a good idea.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

It's tempting, but no.

That would count as un-safe baiting. The lads know her address and probably her bank details, SSN, &c., &c.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:44 pm

When you think about it, Thud is correct. You would have to bait them for a while to make sure they are convinced there would be no ties between your Mom and the "new" information. That in effect they would have to call the dummy number for any attempts at reaching her.

In the end it would be hollow victory, they would "twig" and find some other person to scam. Our goal is de-education and helping them see that scamming is a horrible profession to be in, and perhaps doing stunts that may or may not result in serious injury (you know who you are).

Best suggestion is to keep track of email addys, in case of changes, if a mass bait seems in the future.

You may be able to put a block on calls from outside the country you are in, depending on the carrier. That would stop the phone calls. They would have to pick up a number in your country to get through (that will cost them). Wink

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:42 am

Hi Cefaral

Your heart is in the right place but this sounds risky on many levels.

We have an elderly victim who, for whatever reason, keeps coming back to feed these lads. IMHO this victim needs to be kept entirely free of anything that might give the lads the impression she is still interested because one of many risks is that she might in fact still fall victim. The victim did not approach us and by accounts, would probably still feed these lads even now if it weren't for ScrappinSally's efforts. Not an ideal situation at all but it is what it is.

A complete cut is required to minimise the risk of further harm to the victim and her family.

We can go after the lads independently.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:11 pm

I'm getting on this guy. Your mother is lucky to have a daughter like you, Sally.

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