Thoughts on this?

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Master Baiter Joined: 15 Nov 2008 Posts: 210

I have been working a bait for about a month now. I have referenced it a few times in other threads. The basic premise is that I am a reverend of a small church and my lad wants me to give him money to free up millions of dollars to do charitable work. Anyway, I intially tried to get him to work with my church but he seemed a bit spooked at the idea of bringing others into the transaction. I then told him that I would sell some precious heirlooms to raise the money but I continued to press him on letting my church help instead of relying on me alone. Today I got this e-mail:

Quote:

Dad,
I check on my other box, i see your email asking me if you should go to the church for this help, may yes, i only want to go out of this country and come to the usa and start new life and education.
if asking the church is the best way, you can see the person you trust among them and ask him to join us.
Thank you.
Johnson

This is completely out of character. His sudden willingness to work with the church came from out of nowhere. The talk of coming to the US is brand new.

If he wants to involve my church I am down with a group bait, but something smells fishy.

Thoughts?

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:11 am

I guarantee he will be asking for funds to fly. Does your church pay for new members airfares? He's just looking for a new angle because his initial scam appeared to have failed. He is testing the waters to see if you will like his 'idea' - Play along and see where he takes this. More likely he'll open a few extra doors for you to slam on his foot. Very Happy

Find out his exact location and tell him that you will pay for his airfare. There is a small airfield in the middle of ___(insert isolated town 400km away)___ where you have a Red Cross plane leaving with some missionaries. (of course we'll find a town without a airfield so he doesn't even accidentally get on a plane)

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:28 am

It still looks like early days but now he's opened the door for you.

Start working on him saying that you're now talking to the church and trying to find out what help they can offer. After a few more emails you can introduce a new "church" character and run with that one. Tell him you've done what you can but the church wants to help him personally. Once he believes he's talking to a clergyman you'll hopefully be able to get him to jump through hoops.

Don't worry about a group bait yet - you're doing fine on your own. And don't rush it. Build up slowly to involving your new character.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:06 pm

@ csudebate - Getting a lad to set up a new branch of a church is a lot of work the lads. Not all of them will do it. There are plots of land to find, engineering drawings to do, etc. The lad told you what he really wants, to get out of Africa where he can live higher off the hog in a less dangerous environment. So as NN and Slightly have said, go with the flow. Be flexible, relax, and go slow. Try to set up various scenarios for the lad to go through next so you have more options to take the bait.
I think you need another avatar, too. It makes me feel overwhelmed, anxious, and confused just looking at it. A baiter needs to be innocent like Nurse Nancy, confident and super-powered like Slightly, and cool as a cucumber like me. Cool