Closing lad accounts - good idea or bad idea?

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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:52 am

Dumb thing to do. A lad does not stop scamming because an account has been closed. Wink

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:39 am

Bad Idea.
Doesn't hurt the lad one bit, breaks off contact that may not be regained. Closed accounts have ended more than one trophy producing bait for me.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:54 am

Bad. It's a bit like spiders - it's far better to know where they are Wink

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:38 am

its a stupid waste of time and we might disturb/distroy good baits and long-time connections with our favourite pets.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:46 am

I just had to vote and post to say >>bad idea<< (with the usual/obvious exceptions)

...it's all been said many times before, and no doubt will be said again in six months time.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:11 am

Agreed. I almost had a lad go to the wonderful Porters restaurant for a webcam visit, about 3 days before he was due to meet me, my emails to him bounced Mad

(60-0! is this poll a bit one sided Very Happy

)

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:39 am

My 2 cents worth, bad idea, doesn't hurt them in the least

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:06 am

NOT a good plan.
BAAAAAD idea.
STOOPID
POOR thinking
Idiotic thing to do

Except, naturally, phone lad accounts -> redundant spam Wink

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:59 am

Bad Idea.

Those crazy lads will just open up another account double quick time, shutting down accounts will just prevent us from wasting lots of expensive lad hours in cyber cafes. In effect we'd be weeding ourselves out the equasion, thus actually helping the lads to connect with more "trustworthy" victims.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:22 pm

I'm trying like mad to resist my normal urge to run contrary to the grain of popular thought.

In most circumstances I can usually find a reason to disagree with the majority, just based on being a sheerly pointless disagreable wanker. This one's got me stumped though. There's nothing within ten light-years grasp, which will make me consider the idea that closing a lad account is a good idea.

So yes - bad idea (to put it simply). Laughing

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:29 pm

I'm with the majority for all the previously stated reasons. The only addies for deading are phone lads.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:35 pm

Sure close them but only IF the lad is definately confirmed as deceased.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:17 pm

I can't believe this question is being asked...

Bad. Bad. bad..

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:39 pm

78-0 with only 2 undecided. What an emphatic lot we are! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:03 pm

Bad Idea - it will take you a longgg time to close an account, while it takes him 3 seconds to open a new one. And if he's smart, he'll have back up of his addresses, so what did you obtain? Nothing!

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:24 pm

Well I think it's a good idea!

Not to close lad accounts. Razz

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 3551

I can't believe this. What has happened to everyone who thought it was a GOOD idea? Come on, speak up! No one will flame you. There is plenty of room for discussion.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Well, we've creeped up to 3 undecideds.

As has been mentioned elsewhere by those whose opinons I respect, I truly doubt that we'll get any 'no' responses at this point. However, if anyone does have a differing view, please post it without fear of repurcussions- if your argument is posted reasonably (trolls need not apply), we can discuss it. If you don't want to post, but still have questions, concerns, or disagreements please PM me or a Mod of your choosing and discuss it off the public board.

Personally, I think that this thread, coupled with Zen's post here makes our (those of us against closing accounts willy-nilly) position pretty clear:

Phone lads- zap 'em.
Vanity emails that lads paid for- zap 'em.
Email addy domains that belong to advance fee fraud sites- zap 'em.

Run of the mill lad freemails- leave them alone.

DO NOT abuse report the email addys in Surplus and DO NOT abuse report the email addys from the Shuttle.

That about sum it up?

419Eater is my life Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 277

I'll probably have to take all the heat now, as it appears, being the first (and probably last) one who voted the option "good idea".

I've read all previous posts in this thread and I take them very seriously. I understand your point of view - I just disagree with it.

I think that it is a good idea to close lad accounts, because in many - albeit not all - cases it hurts them. (I know, I know, I read it here, you think it does not.)

I strongly believe it does: it sets them back, it renders their spam runs void. They would have to run again and again; this, however, is time consuming and tiresome, besides of having to pay for the IC hours and being annoyed over the loss of their dirty work. Communication with their victims may be disrupted, especially in early stages of the scam, as long as the particular account to be closed represented the only persona the lad was playing. Document bunkers and format repositories may be destroyed which the lad may have serious difficulties recovering or replacing. Important victim information may be lost, such as telephone numbers and previous details of the scam which the lad might want to recall or refer to later.

If a lad suffers from several such incidents, he would have to take precautions. He would start making notes of his correspondence. In a number of cases I know this is a real paper booklet, in other cases they use a memory stick or start forwarding important information between accounts. Having a physical piece of evidence (booklet/usb stick) with them is a source of great discomfort. That item could be stolen or lost - maybe to be recovered/found by another scammer. This could lead to the exposure of vital information with the possible result of their victims being taken over by someone else. In case of a police raid the physical evidence could be found with them and cause lots of trouble. But even if the lad is just urged to forward what they believe are the relevant parts of their scam between different accounts, that is already an increased level of administration, a real pain in the ass.

Just recall: lads use stateless computers - meaning, 99.99% of them don't own and don't even want to own a PC. Not only because of infrastructural underdevelopment, but also for security reasons these folks rely on internet cafes where their access is anonymous. They stand up from a PC in an IC and just two seconds later they can claim not to have been there ever. Try to imagine the difficulties with your own baiting activity if you had no PC to store files on but you would always have to worry that your accounts would be closed in any second.

I am aware that 84 of you voted for "bad idea" and lots of you have also expressed in strong emotional terms how bad this idea you think was, while I am the only one representing the opposite opinion. I'm an easy kill. Just fall all over me and shy me away if you like - or argue and I will try to address your concerns.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Quote:

I'm an easy kill. Just fall all over me and shy me away if you like

With an articulate post like that I am 99.99% sure no one will. You bring up some very valid reasons to support your viewpoint. I am going to read it again and digest it.

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:39 pm

^^^^^@ Komsomol

You wrote

Quote:

If a lad suffers from several such incidents, he would have to take precautions. He would start making notes of his correspondence

The lads are smart and do take precautions.

But I still don't agree with your reasoning. I usually bait one lad from 5 different accounts. With some mugus I have spent aver 20 hours.
My Opus Dai SS templar is one example. If someone was to close his account I would loose hours of time. I had some baits going only to find that someone had closed the account. More damage was done by this. The mugu only needs 3 minutes to open up a new account.

It is much better idea to do mass baiting. then to have an account closed.

So don't close any accounts even though you feel it would help

Muchas Gracias

Rumbero
A mugu who has been baptized or humiliated by many baiters is one lad who will think twice about scamming again.

419Eater is my life Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 277

@rumbero - so what exactly is your problem? Either the lads do take precautions (as you say) and "the mugu only needs 3 minutes to open up a new account" (as you say) - in this case I don't see how they can lose contact to your baiting persona? How come that you would lose hours of time if the precautious lad opened a new account in just 3 minutes and up to full speed with you again?

Or, this is not like you're saying, and the lads are not precautious, for they are likely to lose contact with you during a bait.

Now, I recall bating is a simulated scammer-victim interaction (with the intention that the suffering party is the scammer). Let's focus on the aspect of simulation. If your lad loses contact with you due to an account closure, it means that they would do similarly with real victims. I think this aspect is not to be underestimated. Do you agree?

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Upon reflection, at what point would you have the account closed?

1. As soon as you learn the lad is a scammer? Then scambaiting wouldn't be much fun.

2. As soon as you are finished baiting him/her? That would be a tad hypocritical. You get to play with the lad and when you are done you cut the lad off, leaving other possible baiters to hang, and possible innocent victims at risk while you play with him/her?

It appears that your position is either all or nothing. There would be no middle ground. This would become a site devoted to closing lads accounts, baiting would be out of the question.

This is the only logical conclusion to your argument I can resolve. You make a great case for option #1. I just think that baiting does more good than harm based on the totality of the positions stated.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Quote:

If your lad loses contact with you due to an account closure, it means that they would do similarly with real victims. I think this aspect is not to be underestimated. Do you agree?

Lets assume that 1 out of 100 people the lad is in contact with is a baiter. If you close the account there is a great chance that the next fresh batch of victims is 100% innocents. I think your statement proved the majorities point.

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