Why we are baiting

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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:04 pm

Over at ScamWarners:

Quote:

Online-auction scammer: Why are you selling this motorbike?

Victim: I need the money - I need to buy a car instead to transport my handycapped son.

Scammer: Send the money via WU.

I hope somewhen a baiter will safari this bastard to a war zone or an Ebola infested area, I mean it.

I moved this thread from General Chat to Main.- Connie

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

I feel bad for not spending more time on that site. These stories are tough to read.

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:55 pm

Fortunately, in this case the victim had a last minute hunch and asked for advice. But sometimes after a patrol over there I feel too emotionally exhausted to bait.

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:10 pm

Craigslist and other sites are full of scammers. They use all tricks to extract money from victims( who simply want to sell or buy items).
I posted a fake ad in Craigslist three weeks ago, out of 18 replies I've received , 11 were scammers. Same terminology, same fake re-direct numbers, same fake PayPal emails.

I hope people become more aware when they do business online.

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:31 pm

A pity Craigslist scammers are nigh on impossible to safari. I'd be happy to oblige you Jeanette.

The one you mentioned deserves a special place in hell.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:14 pm

And here's another reason. This one worked out well, with the victim having the strength to warn others.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/artist-victim-s-tale-heartbreak/story-13327372-detail/story.html

Master Baiter Joined: 03 May 2011 Posts: 237

I would have thought that even in a real life situation where the victim is desperate for money (i.e. they have none), and they are selling something (like a motorbike), the request for money from the buyer/scammer would strike them as odd and not legitimate.

I suppose though that desperation can lead people into doing things they otherwise wouldn't. This is one of the most despicable things about the scammers; they prey on the desperate with no regard for the dire straits they are clearly in. I often wonder if the lads ever do feel any remorse or give their behaviour a second thought. Can anyone answer this?

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:02 pm

On some rare occasions lads have been known to draw a line somewhere. Strating a new life, not telling a girl to sell herself to get a few dollars to send to the lad.
But most lads are ruthless and care nothing at all except their own upcoming payday. Therefore you can see lads do terrible things like the one Jeanette described above.

I like to believe that their behavior comes from the fact that they can't see all the suffering they put their victims through. That the victims are just a few pages of text and that they distance themselves that way.
But do i really believe that the lads feel sympathy towards their victims?
No!

Master Baiter Joined: 03 May 2011 Posts: 237

I know that it's not unheard of for a scammer to start a new life and give up scamming, but I imagine it's a very small percent that do it for moralistic reasons. Many will likely give it up because they can't scratch a living as a guyman and so are forced to get a job and earn honest money. Works either way, the way I see it.

And I think you hit it on the head in saying they don't actually have to see the emotional pain that their victims suffer after being scammed. Although many would see it as petty theft, I've read articles on the psychosomatic effects of victimisation. One memorable part described being scammed as the "psychological equivalent to rape". I can only begin to imagine what it feels like to fall for such a scam. The scammer does not have to see his victims break down in tears, suffer sleep and eating disorders and generally go through psychological hell.

The closest I can come to imagining the feeling is when, years ago - I was about 14 or 15 - I fell for a phishing scam where I entered my Hotmail address and password into a form that I should have known was a forgery.
Afterwards I felt really stupid because I have for a long time been quite computer and internet savvy. I beat myself up over it and while I lost nothing of value (I had no bank accounts, no PayPal or eBay or anything related to money), I still felt like a mugu.

A person who has fallen for a 419 scam has lost something of value; often everything. They may have seen themselves as intelligent, sensible people who could never fall for anything so silly as an internet scam. Then it happens to them. What follows, and what I felt in a comparitively infinitesimal degree, are feelings of anger, shame and embarrassment.

I know this has became a bit of a rant, so I'll stop it here. Who ever thought that something like 419 could bring about such discussion and introspection.

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:35 pm

I would love to see scammers repent and I pray for it to happen. I meet with a few others for Bible study and prayer and bring up whoever I'm baiting as a prayer request. I've also told some guys at church about baiting and asked them to pray (the missions focus this quarter is the Central West African Division, which includes everything from Senegal to Nigeria and then some). But I'm not going to tell a lad that during a bait - we're both playacting, so it would be out of character.

Because of this, I'm not going to do a тwаτ-style church bait, as I feel it's likely to turn the lad off from joining a real church (on top of that, the W reminds me of the JWs). I have no problem with persuading a lad to build a giant fishtank, though.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 577

Dr Mike wrote:

A pity Craigslist scammers are nigh on impossible to safari. I'd be happy to oblige you Jeanette.

The one you mentioned deserves a special place in hell.

Not true. Had one started on Gmail and got him moved over to yahoo. Confirmed Lagos - had him get his bus tickets for Ghana.

Have not tried for a craigslist safari recently - but I sure waste their time and cost them money - in good looking checks - if nothing else.

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:19 pm

What a horrible person. Do you have his e-mail? I'm not too good with one spectacular bait, but perhaps I could ruin his ego by acting VERY supportive, until a couple problems come up, and I never e-mail him again. In conjunction with somebody else baiting him, it could be an emotional roller-coaster (fun to watch, not fun to experience! Twisted Evil

).

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:17 pm

Hi Cpt Tripps, Jeanette, Next V, & All, Smile

Keep in mind that lads are criminals. The psychology of the criminal mind is generally that of a person with only a regard to their own well being. That their actions of unsociable behaviour is justified by achieving that well being.
In addition, they believe the risk of being caught is remote. Crying or Very sad

Unfortunately they are right.

I have noticed when population density is high crime rates are high. My early days on this planet, I lived in a low density situation. Everyone knew each other in the neighbourhood. We hardly ever locked doors. No break - ins. No thefts. There was an unofficial neighbourhood watch, which seemed to be not needed. Escaped and wandering dogs were returned to their owners. Lost kids were looked after. Everyone had a responsible attitude to the community as a whole.

I live in a very similar situation now. We had a scumbag but he was well recognised and caught out twice. Arrested etc. He has left the area. Smile

Lads being lazy may work against them in the end. By wasting their resources they will become frustrated and many will seek other ways of securing an income.
The harder the lads have to work the less of them there will be.

Cheers Smile

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:30 pm

Can you imagine a couple from the US making holidays in London, arriving at the airport and waiting for the shuttle to pick them up and bring them to their rented apartement, but no shuttle is coming and the apartment is locked since the owner knows nothing about them - but the 2000 Dollars are gone?

Just try to book an apartement from craiglist and be completly gullible Confused

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:51 pm

When I came to the US some years ago, I contacted a condo owner in Florida while I lived in the UK. I was waiting for my green card and not allowed to enter the US until I actually got the card - so I emailed him.
I rented the condo unseen and wired the money to the owner
He and I checked each other to some degree out but it had its risks for both of us.

Turns out I got a great condo at a great price and I felt so lucky - so we can have great suspicions, lots of 'red flags', but must allow for a rare situation which is a red flag candidate, but turns out to be genuine.

It's usually safe to assume guilt and the assumption is best kept at 100% for African scammers, but every now and then, an innocent gets the electric chair.

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:55 pm

^^^ with "wire" you mean bank to bank transfer?
I always tell victims at scamwarners that a bank account with details matching the details of the business partner is a good sign. Of course you can get scammed even with a matching account but Western Union transfer or a bank account without matching details should be always a reason to stop the contact...

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:05 pm

^^ yes I wired the money from my bank to his company and he had a small time company that I checked out as best I could. I also called the condo association and made sure he was who he said he was and had paid current fees etc and that the condo was empty. The association confirmed his mother had lived in the apt and had died recently. I got the condo association phone number independently. I also called his secretary a few times and made sure she always answered the phone as the same company. He was a good landlord and I was a good tenant.

By all the advice we get from Craigslist etc, I should have been a scammer as I was calling from the UK and ready to pay for the condo unseen.

Just shows that renters like me do exist and with due diligence on the part of both, these seemingly fraudulent situations can resolve just fine.