What percentage actually respond?

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 26

I started baiting a couple of scammers last week, and both have kinda dropped off the radar. The email address for one started bouncing back as having been deleted and the other just stopped responding. (He probably either "made" me or gave up out of frustration; I have that effect on people sometimes. *grin*) These were the first two I responded to, and I actually got responses back from both.

I've since responded to four or five other scam mails I got, and received no replies. So now I'm curious: what percentage of these knuckleheads actually take the bait when you reply to their message?

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

No set percentage that one could reliably use. Some drop off for no reason, some you can't get to leave you alone. Laughing

The key is to recognize the good ones once you have them.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 8:48 pm

I always suggest you overbait, then keep a few on tickover mode (1 email every few days, appearing compliant but slow) - some of those will die off, but the others will be in a position to play with when you need them, having worked through their scripts and building rapport with you.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

JMRazor wrote:

The key is to recognize the good ones once you have them.

You will find that the good ones taste like chicken. Wink

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 4:47 am

BRUIN has a 100 percent response rate in an ASEM in his WIMP modality. I would say that it would be pretty risky free to expect a return if you WIMPed a lad that contacted you first.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

There are several variables:

Including the email you are replying to gets more responses.
A short but believable initial reply gets more responses.
A reply from an address the scammer sent his format to may work better - not all of them mass-bomb their format - but you don't want to bait from your catcher.
A fresh scam letter is better than a stale one. You'll get many fewer replies if the scam letter is a month old than if it was received yesterday. It is less believable to respond a month late, but the scammer may not be even reading that box at the moment.
Some scammers read your mails - even the very first one - some just send out script until they request a passport/form/money.
Some scammers don't like gmail.
A single catcher account seeded to guestbooks will capture only a limited number of scammer gangs. A limited sample amplifies their quirks - you may have found the only three gangs in Lagos that wont respond to anyone with an "x" in their name, but one of the gangs thinks it is perfectly normal to pose with a fish on their head. My catcher never seems to land anyone based in Nigeria; they're all from Ghana or Cote d'Ivore.

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 1:22 am

Even if a lad does stop responding to you, he may come back at a later date to try again (couldn't get anything out of anyone else he was e-mailing,got too tired of dealing with baiters Twisted Evil

, etc...) I just got an email a few days ago from a lad I hadn't heard from for a month and had thought the bait was over.

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:28 am

They may also stop responding if they have had a pay-day, from some other unfortunate.
I can only handle 4 at once, any more becomes a chore and not a pleasure. But mix up your charatures and your e-mail servers.

And there's heaps of free e-mail accounts to be had.

If your using the same charatures name and the same [safe] e-mail address, for all you know you could be replying to the same person, using different names, and there going to twig it. The result is they will drop both of your charatures

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:47 am

ScamSlammer wrote:

So now I'm curious: what percentage of these knuckleheads actually take the bait when you reply to their message?

About 90% conservatively Very Happy

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