Prof, Yeawhatever & Jojo on the radio-This American Life

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:38 pm

That was really interesting, and pretty fair for the most part, I think. Good work, chaps. Very Happy

Welcome to those who found us as a result of the broadcast. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:40 pm

Just heard the whole thing...
@Jojo's point about Adamu still scamming and suggesting a child should die while he collects $10K should squash all lad huggers.

Overall, I still found the reading of the actual emails really funny.
I expected you all to be much BIGGER assholes than you really were... Laughing

Great job and a really balanced report. Fox News should figure out how to be that balanced... Laughing

P.S. You all sounded much brighter than the opening act...Joey "hands and head of cement" Kocur... Very Happy

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:43 pm

As I said in the original thread guys, nice work and incredible job getting this kind of publicity. Even if you were made out to be assholes (which I don't think you were), having this aired on a national scale raises awareness about 419 scams. You managed to waste months of the lad's time and educate thousands of listeners about how common 419 scamming is. Well done and congrats!

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

I just heard it as well. Nicely done, although I think they could have spent the full hour on the topic. Just a minor complaint though.

I thought it was a fair presentation. There are moral issues involved with this type of bait, but I was pleased that they included the part at the end where Adamu is willing to kill a child to get his money.

The only other complaint that I would have is that the show tended to paint the victims of these scams as greedy folks like Adamu. Or maybe that was just the way that I interpreted it.

Did you folks not get the opportunity to work "run left" into the conversation? Very Happy

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 13 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

Hey, folks.. I'm new.

I had heard about scambaiting several years ago, but it sort of slipped out of my mind, until the other day when I was checking my usual websites and saw the promo on the This American Life site, with the link to the safari thread (and by the way, that is easily the most EPIC thing I have ever read on the intertubes).

I heard the show today on the way home from work and, like pretty much everyone else here is saying, it was pretty even-handed. I sort of didn't like the implied "scambaiters are as evil as the lads themselves" angle, but maybe that's just because I'm rather fond of taste-of-your-own-medicine ironic karma punishments. These scamming jack-holes make their living by ruining the lives of others, and who knows what else they're into (human trafficking, for example, is a lucrative trade in that part of the world). I have not a shred of sympathy for any of them.

Anyway, congrats on the radio interview, and huge, huge congratulations on scamming the scammers so thoroughly that even J.R. "Bob" Dobbs himself would be proud to shake your hand (for only $50).

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:00 pm

I have spent the day with a paint brush in my hand, and wasn't able to tune in... Sad

Anywhere I can listen to a recording...????

EDIT: Thanks for the link Freddie, this is absolutely priceless.... Very Happy

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:32 pm

Ira was very fair with the information we gave him. He was right that YW and Prof are big a-holes, but not me. Laughing

I have heard about 90% of it so far. I'll listen to the rest Monday.

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:56 pm

@YeaWhatever, Jojo & Prof - Superbly well played, gents.... bow_down

A very humorous and informative interview.
I was delighted that Ira allowed listeners the opportunity to hear about Adamu's utter indifference to the life or death struggle of Pancho Villa's little girl in his greed for £10k.

To me, that was the perfect way to finish the interview, and left listeners in absolutely no doubt whatsoever, what a vile excuse of a human Adamu truly is.... Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:58 pm

For those of you Floridians living in the Tampa Bay area, it's supposed to be on this evening at 7pm est on wusf 89.7(2) and wusf 89.7 at 8pm. Not sure what the difference is between the two stations...I think the (2) station is hi-def Rolling Eyes

Anyway, you can also listen to it streaming at 7pm here:
http://www.wusf.usf.edu/wusf-fm2/WUSF-FM2_Stream/LaunchStream2.cfm

or at 8pm here:
http://www.wusf.usf.edu/wusf-fm/

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:53 pm

I´m just waiting for it to start Smile

should start in 5 minutes (first link)

EDIT Really nicely done! Very Happy

More an audio play than a pure interview. I like the Guybrush Threepwood-like music Very Happy

Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:29 pm

I love Ira reading the famous "the hand" e-mail. Laughing

Not quite a Newb Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 20

You guys did great! Everytime "the hand" was mentioned I lost it.

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:19 am

Kudos guys clapping

I loved it. Listened at 7 and had to listen again at 8...would've posted sooner but couldn't seem to get through. Guess the website had a lot of traffic, wonder why lol

Can't wait for it to be uploaded to itunes so I can have it on my ipod Very Happy

I only wished they had played the "Are you sleeping inside yet?" "Nooooooooo!" audio....that was this guy, wasn't it Confused

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:47 am

@leia, thanks for the link, I found it just at the right time to hear the whole thing. Very Happy

@Yea, Jojo, and Prof: great job! I was very impressed by how well you guys presented yourselves, as well as how even-handed the story was portrayed. That was the best overall 419-related media presentation I've read/seen/heard to date. Kudos to Ira Glass for keeping such an open-minded and intelligent perspective. No sugar-coating, no diatribes, just a clear, honest presentation. A great show on every level. And, of course, an epic bait. Wink

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:23 pm

Where can i download the podcast?

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:53 pm

The podcasts are usually available on his site by Monday.
Once it is available, you should be able to find it here http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:16 pm

Just heard about the NPR piece, will catch the podcast tomorrow. Having fun learning about you guys--fantastic! I've had fun returning e-mails, but it never occurred to invest time in disincentivizing this bullsh**. Thanks for that.

Any chance this will push the Nigerian government to get its sh** together? Laughing

I figure it will just increase competitive pressures elsewhere in its creatively destructive "economy". Still, those with the advanced degrees should be wildly successful. And I hear there's always work for people who can hold a tiller in one hand and an AK-47 in the other...

Congrats again. Keep up the good fight.

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:30 pm

Really enjoyed the radio interview. I thought I might see some ethical purists niggling about procedural grey areas ito your activity, but I've been angry about these people for a long time.

My father just told me a few weeks ago, in fact, about one of his acquaintances who allegedly lost 80K on one of these scams; the guy is a senior citizen, and maybe he got greedy, but that doesn't make it OK, obviously. So I was kept quite amused with your stories & if I can help with any action (if I can find time), it seems like it might be fun.

Very Happy

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:52 pm

MaxTheCat wrote:

... and maybe he got greedy, .....

That is one thing that Ira said to us that annoyed ALL of us. The notion that victims of 419 scams are all greedy. That is not the case, well, at least not most of the time.

I will admit, that folks who fall for the "next-of-kin" scam (where the scammer asks you to lie, and pretend that you are the aire to a fortune that you are not entitled to) might have some questionable judgement. But as most of the people who are members here know, there are many other types of scams that do not require the victim to lie to collect money. For instance, fake lotteries, fake "work from home" scams, fake charities, etc... are all flavors of 419 scams that even the most honest and ethical people could fall victim to.

Is someone who thinks that they have found a way to work from home "greedy"? Is someone who thinks that they won a drawing or lottery "greedy"? Of course not, but sadly, there are many people, including Ira Glass for a while (until we filled him in), that see all 419 scam victims as greedy. I do not think that the vast majority of victims are greedy at all... perhaps a bit gullible, but not greedy.

Every time that a bait, or a baiter is mentioned outside the scambaiting community as we just were, I am always hopeful that people will realize that victims of these crimes are not just greedy people as some would think. I would also hope that maybe we have stopped a few people from losing everything that they have worked for. That maybe they heard our story, and recognized a "proposal" that they have been offered recently, and now have been educated enough to protect themselves from these scum.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 35

Taking the inheritance scam as an example, the end result is the victim may have had the intention of depriving a non-existent deceased person's estate of non-existent funds; whereas the scammer has both intended to defraud and actually defrauded a real person of real, and what is likely to be hard-earned, cash.

I know which one the criminal is and so does he. I take great pleasure in wasting as much of his time as possible, which otherwise would have undoubtedly been spent in scamming more victims.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:16 pm

@Kaffe Anon and MaxTheCat - I'm glad you tuned in, and found our site.
Please stick around and give scambaiting a try. We're always around to answer questions and get you started. We do some good around here, and have fun doing it. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:36 am

Great work guys!

Podcast is here: http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/363.mp3
our bit starts about 5 or 6 minutes into it.

Kudos, I think you came over really well considering he had to play
devils advocate with you.

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:30 am

Downloading to my iPod as I type. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:08 am

Thanks for the link IVOR.

I have made a few radio (scam baiting) broadcasts in the past .... but this is the best one I have ever heard.

clapping

419Eater is my life Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 441

Great Radio show!

So, you invited Adamu to listen to the show, don't you kill your current bait with him by doing that? Or has it dies anyway?

Prof, Yeawhatever & Jojo on the radio-This American Life	View next topic View previous topic