Moral question

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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:58 pm

I have been asking myself this question for a while: since scammers look for easy victims, such as lonely old ladies, I wonder if you feel is right to pretend you are a mentally challenged person to make your character more "appetizing" to lads. As for myself, I wouldn't feel very comfortable doing that.

What about you?

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:07 pm

No, they don't look for such people.
They are sending the email to masses and they just see who bites. It's no true that victims are mostly lonely old ladies or 'easy victims'. Wink

They buy email addresses in thousands, dare to say millions. How can they tell?

I get dozens of scam emails, yet I've never said anywhere I'm easy victim.
Neither said something like that to a lad.

As long as you're interested, they keep going no matter what your age, race, iq or overall intelligence is.

Old rich lady doesn't equal stupid old rich lady. Wink

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:10 pm

I've baited as a young man who was brain damaged.

The lads were happy to explain to him very carefully how to go to the bank, withdraw money from his account, take it across the road to Western Union, and make a payment to them.

I had no discomfort writing as the brain damaged young man (I basically just wrote with the spelling, attitude, and comprehension of a five-year-old). I did have plenty of discomfort realising first hand how lads were still prepared to steal from him .... and give him precise directions in order to do so.

However.... my most intelligent characters actually keep their lads the longest.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:26 pm

I have noted that I get dropped more frequently the more mentally challenged a character is. It makes my blood boil to know they scam teh hadnicapped, but we know it is done. I have found great success in playing the rich, pushy person. Yes, sometimes the lads act ethically...kidding. They'll take whoever, whenever, even baiters acting as 7 year olds. It's about the Bennys, Jimbo.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:28 pm

They don't give a fig about age, animal, mineral, race etc.

This proves it: http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=170709

Apologies for pushing my favourite bait again but it IS brilliant!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 24 Feb 2011 Posts: 72

I think the general believe is that if you are mentally challenged you are not likely to have much money. So considering the time it will take to get you to do something and the money it is likely to bring, you are not a good target.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:53 pm

Right...I would think the normally unscrupulous lad would see it as the proverbial "cash cow" and milk all he funds he can regardless of amount. Payday is payday. That's all a lad cares for. Otherwise they wouldn't jump through the hoops we hold up.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:07 am

I've found baiting as a person who does not have English as a first language can be fun.

Mangle the grammar
Spell check? Hell, no! Smile

Having poor spoken English also gives a perfect excuse not to speak on the phone (although that fact may need repearting several times before the lad gets it Rolling Eyes

)

Quote:

I, of Latvian personn, of being. Yes!
I, nowe of livinge in UK as, of famere of Triffids.
Needing, I of monnies large, too be shure.
Of, for buying land and triffid
Perhaps, we of doing, good businesses togethere?

At the end of the day, if you're not comfortable with a particular 'type' of character, don't do it. Wink

Baiting has a valuable purpose, but it should also be at least some way enjoyable for the baiter.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:33 am

I've never played a mentally-challenged person before, but have played bi-polar ones Smile

But, I don't have a moral issue with it. I've told my lad how I couldn't send the money because my brother was in the hospital dying from brain cancer (which my real brother did three years ago), but I don't feel guilt. In fact, he'd be telling me to ahead and use that.

I've killed off my mother, my twin sister, etc., and I don't have a problem with it. It feels weird when doing it at first, but it's all make-believe. Just like the money I have coming is make believe.

I figure I'm gonna have a better story than the lad's!

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:58 am

Bi-Polar ones can be fun to play as one day they are down and the next day absolutely MANIC so the lad never knows what to expect!

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:23 am

^^^Exactly Smile

Gosh--I hope I don't turn bi-polar doing this stuff.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:27 am

^^^ Will send meds if you do! Laughing

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:01 am

Can I drink my beer while taking the meds? Smile

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:50 am

I treat baiting as a complete fantasy world where anything goes so I don't ever feel guilty about any character I play. I will say one of my favorite characters to play in straight baits is Jack who is a paraplegic. It fits perfectly in the delay game.

It's not any of the bullshit the lads tell you is true most is used to gain your sympathy so why should I worry about who I play?

As with everything to do with baiting it's a personnel choice as to how far you want to take it. For me I'm still looking for the line I won't cross to cause lad pain.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I have no moral issue with baiting this way.

I baited as someone suffering from brain damage, specifically short term memory issues. I responded to ASEM type of scam emails, the "I haven't forgotten your past efforts" type. They were quite happy with the fact that I thought that we were really picking back up on a previous conversation.
Of course, they didn't like it down the road when I had a hard time remembering what was going on.

I also baited as a three year old.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 4747

I have no problem with acting as a “challenged” person.

Mental health? To be honest, to go to the extent I go to in some of my baits, I seriously wonder if I am not just as crazy as my characters , but just acting out in a different way in real life.

Intellectually challenged? Oddly enough I haven’t act too far out of the scope the way I have seen others act. I worked with one guy who really believed that all of Africa was mud huts, btw he is a college graduate, and going for his teaching degree.

Finally, with my baits the level of my intellect and lack of sanity don’t come on until the bait is well under way.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:14 am

Lads will scam anyone they can. Personally, I think their scripts are a bit silly just to filter out people who are lucid enough to know you can't win a lottery you didn't enter.

There has been enough documentation to prove very intelligent people fall for scams. I suspect the lad found them at just the right time in the victim's life.

I still though think most victims are mentally handicapped in one way or another. I know they probably aren't rich but if they have a steady monthly income, that is more then enough for a lad.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:31 am

I try to give my characters some sort of handicap, but more to give me more chances to delay the payment as to make them more believable.
If you are keeping the conversation stupid enough with believing the format you are stupid enough for every lad...

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:04 pm

I often think that baiting is similar to writing a novel, etc. That whatever the author (baiter) thinks up can be acceptable -of course as long as it is within the parameters we follow on Eater.

FACT: Lads lie and what they write is FICTION.

FACT: Authors are creative and their stories are complete FICTION.

Is it not true we are authors of fiction?

@dwatina Taking meds and drinking that Bud will only make your lad calls more colorful! Wink

insults and more · Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:11 pm

Some of my favorite characters are terribly senile.

I think everyone should, at some point, try pushing their own envelope to see where their comfort zone is. Also, to reaffirm why they bait. Every now and then you need to see something like Sunshine's bait with Creepy Uncle Ernie to get a good grasp of why we bait.

If you have problems baiting as a mentally challenged person, just don't do it. But you may want to try anyway, just to see exactly how far you are comfortable going, and see if you can pick up anything to be used later. For instance, what if your main character goes into surgery and spends a few weeks on painkillers? Or his 5 year old hijacks his email account and starts writing to the lad? Or worse, rubs a magic lamp and turns into a five-year-old Chinese dragon?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 23 Jan 2011 Posts: 15

Thanks for the reading suggestion.

I read Sunshine's post, I was appalled with how far the lads will go. I would not have expected this since I read that most lads are very religious.
And in their believe can buy off small sins, such as stealing from the rich, at their church.
And was wondering if he was praying on Sunday that the girl would go to her uncle Ernie.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:34 pm

leonsumbitches wrote:

Or worse, rubs a magic lamp and turns into a five-year-old Chinese dragon?

Happens to me all the time.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 05 Mar 2011 Posts: 5

I'm a new baiter and I actually have bipolar so playing a bipolar dupe is a piece of cake. I'm thinking of setting myself up as a very gullible bipolar woman with a HUGE trust fund from her grandparents,living with very controlling parents so phone calls aren't allowed. I have an EXCEPTIONALLY deep voice for a woman so passing off as a woman on the phone is really hard under normal circumstances. My husband actually makes me impersonate him when telemarketers call; when I "try" to sound male I sound like Andre the Giant and it really freaks them out. Little do they know, I'm a tiny Polish looking brunette.

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:01 am

Welcome to Eater, bipolarchick!!! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:06 am

Welcome to Eater, bipolarchick.