New User - friendly hello and a questions about rules

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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 3:57 am

Hi there!!

I hope that everyone is having a great evening. I am new to this site (obviously).

I was first prompted to research scams when I started selling a few of my things on Craigslist to pay for my upcoming wedding in September. Every post would get a response from a scammer trying to run the "I sent you a check for $500 more than the total, can you please wire the excess money back to me?" I'm a smart girl, I never fell for it, but it sparked an interest in scams. I eventually found this site, and here I am!!

My question regarding the rules is this: how do I link back to or verify that the e-mail address in question is a scammer's e-mail address? (Rule: don't post the e-mail address unless you can verify that it belongs to a scammer)

Also, what is IP free e-mail? (I know what it is, but which services are IP free or how do I make my Gmail IP free?)

Thanks, and have a great day all! I look forward to wasting scammers time and money!

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 4:05 am

Welcome to Eater

Try reading through Eater University, https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=51

Most of what you want or need to know is in there, any other questions, just ask away, most of us don't bite, although Pastor Frank may try to convert you to being a Canadian.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 4:16 am

Quote:

which services are IP free or how do I make my Gmail IP free?

Welcome to the friendliest and most socially conscious forum on the entire interwebs! Very Happy

(Actually, pretty damn true.)

Gmail is automatically IP free so if you set up a fake name on a Gmail account you are baiting safely right from the start.

Pull up a chair, do some reading, then sign up for a mentor and bait away. It's good, clean, socially useful fun. The first time you get a rant, or better yet a totally toothless death thread from a scammer you will know you have arrived.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 4:56 am

GrowerGirl wrote:

how do I link back to or verify that the e-mail address in question is a scammer's e-mail address?

Welcome GrowerGirl.

Just post the email that told you it was a scam. Sometimes, you'll know from the first mail others it won't be until the scammer mentions the cheque or asks for a Western Union transfer. The rule is there to stop people just turning up and posting "I was scammed by xxx" type posts where the email address could belong to anyone.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:40 am

Welcome to Eater, Growergirl,

You've gotten some pretty good answers. I'm a big fan of gmail-using totally fake into to fill the the account request-it will ask you for a recovery number-you can just skip this.

For our "rules", the Stickies at the top of the page has our TOS. Things we do and don't do. B8er is correct, the reason we require some proof that an email address s lnked to a scammer is we've had people come here and post their exe's or their bosses address or phone number.

The Craig's list scams are pretty familiar and not easy to bait since your real life info is connected with your ad. You can pull a lad out of our Surplus Letters section or from your Spam box as long as you respond from your shiny new fake gmail.

Does this help?

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:47 am

Welcome to Eater!

Gmail strips your IP address if you access it via the Web. If you use SMTP (like Kmail), it doesn't.

If you already have a Gmail address that you use for things other than baiting, create a new one used only for baiting. Locate your character at least 100 km from where you are at an address that doesn't exist.

You can bait Craigslist scammers by writing to them as if they answered an ad for a nonexistent item. See https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=238470 .

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3877

^^

yes, that's the problem with gmail, it does not hide the IP if used in conjuction with a mail client.

regarding craiglist-scammers: how about setting up a fake ad? something ridiculous like an iphone 3G for 800$. the point is, that real customers would be drawn away from that offer, since it is way too expensive for an old phone, yet the scammers need a certain minimum amount of money in order to get the scam working (20$ item and 500$ overpayment check doesn't work).

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:41 pm

Everyone else has said what needs to be said regarding the forum rules and IP masking, so I'll just say Get a Mentor, Bait Safe and Welcome to Eater!

[edited to add]
Oh yeah, and one other piece of essential advice; Never talk smack about the mods unless you are sure they aren't reading the thread.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:47 pm

^wise words dr S Wink

Welcome GrowerGirl, we're happy to answer any questions as you can see.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:58 pm

Welcome here. Don't worry. Mods never read any of the threads...

Very Happy

Elite Baiter Joined: 28 Mar 2015 Posts: 1916

^ Don't believe a word of it! Mods read all the threads and keep a blacklist of all malefactors and naughty peeps in the mods' lounge. Especially beware bware, who has extremely refined antennae for the detection of over-quoting and gratuitous leeting. Laughing

Welcome to Eater.

Very Happy

Master Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 229

Welcome to eater

Hope you enjoy it Wink

Master Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 229

One of the most interesting and friendliest forum on the net!

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

EU321 wrote:

One of the most interesting and friendliest forum on the net!

AND, 99.83% Canadian free.

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:14 pm

^^^ The other 0.17% is under review. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:56 pm

Thank you all for such a warm welcome and for answering my current questions.

I am so excited to start baiting; before I knew that scam baiting was a "thing", I would beg my fiance to hand me the phone so I could have a little fun with the scammers. He would always say, "Babe what's the point? They're not going to stop."

BUT....I have spent the last week or so prior to registering on the site reading through the forums, the letters, FAQ, Guidelines, Tips, looking at photos, listening to the audio archives, etc etc. It became my nightly reading material, and we got so many laughs out of the baits that have been posted.

I can't remember who was responsible for the adventures of Professor Rupert J. Feltch III and Major Muff Diver of Arctic Skunk Explorations, but we laughed so hard it brought us both to tears. If I hadn't already been in love with the idea of turning the tables on the scammers, that would have convinced me.

I have my new gmail account, now all I have to do is bait some stupid scammers! I hadn't even thought about setting a location in my gmail, so thank you very much for bringing that to my attention (I'm a very bright girl but I'm also naturally blonde...or at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I will most certainly be signing up for a mentor, and I look forward to contributing to this very fun, friendly, and socially conscious site. It feels like I'm doing global community service in the funnest way possible.

(And by the way, cheers from the greater Los Angeles region United States

no Canadians here)

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 10:11 pm

Quote:

It feels like I'm doing global community service in the funnest way possible

That's about it, in a nutshell. Looking forward to seeing what you can do. Cool

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3877

found the bait

http://www.419eater.com/html/user_subs/akim/akim.htm

one thing that popped into my eyes: sending a lad a photochopped passport is a nogo nowadays. even with a pic of keith richards. lads can reuse something like that.

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 12:57 am

Welcome to the facility, GrowerGirl! Very Happy

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:00 am

Robert Heinrich der 1. wrote:

one thing that popped into my eyes: sending a lad a photochopped passport is a nogo nowadays. even with a pic of keith richards. lads can reuse something like that.

I saw that in the rules, and I'm so glad that was posted, because I wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. I really like the rules, someone went to great lengths to come up with the guidelines and they all make perfect sense.

What's a good phone service to use for voicemails/calls? I was originally thinking of using Google Voice (they give you a free phone number and it forwards all calls to your home/cell phone); receiving calls is free and it offers free voicemail and global texting. But, I don't know if it's such a good idea to have the phone and voicemail service linked to my actual cell phone number. I also considered TextMeNow or a similar service that doesn't require a forwarding phone number, it's just a WiFi phone number.

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:41 am

^^^^^
You have PM. Or will in a minute.

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