Is there much success rate to scamming?

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.

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jan 2011 Posts: 1650

do we know the statistics to scamming wether there is mucg success.

also has anyone on here been scammed out of a fortune?

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 6:39 pm

yes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12089425

" As many as 2.5 million people ..... in the UK"

Most won't admit it though so the figures are a bit ropey.

Welcome playtime, if you're prepared to believe that even a tenth of that is true then it's still pretty scarey. And that''s just the UK.

piecrust.
(i've not been 419ed myself in RL but i've been had once by a confidence trixter - they seemed so legit, their Web presence and bruchure were A1 first class - that is until the company folded taking millions to the Dominican Republic - out of reach of the law.)

Edit i'm not an Ex-millionare, just lost about a year's worth of savings that's all (Argh!)

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:22 pm

Googling will give you many stories of victims losing much to scammers. And remember, 'a fortune' is a relative term. If you only have $300 to your name, then being scammed out of $290 is a fortune to you. Wink

Here is one story of a woman that lost over $300,000 and still didn't believe it was all a scam. http://stophcommerce.com/?cid=64787

Also, check out our sister site ScamWarners if you want to read more stories of victims.

insults and more · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:40 pm

There are reports that Nigerian 419 scammers swindle over a billion dollars a year. This is certainly under-estimating, as not all victims will report having been defrauded.

Check out some of the baits wherein the baiter gets lads to fill out questionnaires on scamming. Calvin Huckles did a ton of them, and there are several here.

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/01/victims-lost-93-billion-to-419-scammers-in-2009.ars reports that one group estimated $9.3 billion lost to scammers in 2009. The FBI estimates $200 million per year.

While the estimates vary, all are certainly conservative.

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:27 pm

The very fact there are so many scammers is an indication of their success. People would not take up scamming as a "profession" if it did not pay.

Bruin

Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:15 am

Hi playtime. Yes. 1 short question with book-length answers.

When I read this the 1st thing I thought you wanted was the estimated stats
on how many replies they get per mail bomb. I think it's about 10% of each
number. Example: they send 1,000 e-mails. expect 100 replies. Then 10%.
90 people will realize it's a scam and 10 will keep going.

That's why they're happy when you write. I think it's out of the final 10 they
will all send some money and ONE of them will be a Gold Mine and keep
paying and paying HUGE amounts.

When you, (the baiter) write more than 2 or 3 times they figure.....
You're the ONE. The cash cow. Golden Goose.

Question: did you get your username from the Jacques Tati film ?

Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:06 am

I tend to think that 99+% of initial scam /spam emails are ignored. Still a few do respond. (either us baiters or genuine potential victims)
Obviously some scammers make money at it. I think some of the wanna be scammers are actually being scammed themselves by the scammers they buy scripts and templates from. It's kind of like a gold rush- a few prospectors make a lot of money in the beginning and then everyone rushes to do it thinking it's easy money.
At this point the one's getting rich are the one's selling shovels and other supplies to the new prospectors.
Naturally some of the better scammers branch out and basically try every single angle under the sun to get people to send them money. I tend to think that the traditional advance fee scams might be getting harder to pull off as people get wiser.
Even if scammers spend a whole year and only scam $1000 that's still pretty good for West Africa.

It still amazes me that anyone would fall for some of these scams.
It is a fact of life that a stranger is not going to seek you out to give you something for nothing........Obviously not all scams are based on exploiting the greed or dishonesty of the victims but many are.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 1043

In my other job I once spoke to a man who had lost more than £1,000,000. It was a different type of scam - a kind of stock fraud I think.

There are no accurate figures, but even if 1 in 100 respondent pays out, you'll still be raking in the money.

Is there much success rate to scamming?	View next topic View previous topic