Great new idea

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Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:21 pm

I don't know if it's been tried or done before, but I want to do a bait...

Ambitious words for a 419 baiter right? Wink

Alright, so this one I might need lots of help from more experienced baiters. I don't even know what role I'll have yet. I'm open to suggestions.

I want to make a fake news site that bases itself on the "advocacy of third world countries." I want to get a scammer to agree to do a video interview about his life. To protect his safety (rouse to make him more likely to comply) we can say we're going to blur his face and conceal his real name, or have him wear a paper bag over his head or something ridiculous. Of course we can pay him greatly for these services upon completion of the interview. Wink

I figure we'll need to set up a fake news site (which I can pay for the domain in the future) We'll need a producer to email them, a news executive to email him, a reporter to email him, and of course a hilarious name for our news site. Last but not least we need a very dumb, very greedy lad

Does anyone think this would be fun and would like to join me? I think it would be a fun endeavor, and a great team building experience.

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:29 pm

Interview modalities have been done quite a few times, although not on the scale you suggest. I think it might be very useful for you to try it out on a smaller scale (as in, email interviews) before launching something major. In any event this is a natural kind of sequence for media contacts like the sort of thing you are imitating: reach out, perhaps correspond a bit offline to convince both parties it's worth doing, before sticking someone on camera.

One big issue to think about is that if you're recruiting people as if you're a big deal media producer, is how you are going to avoid innocent parties (lad forwards your request to someone else, who forwards it along, and an innocent person interested in development issues replies to you). There are probably ways around this too, but worth thinking about now.

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:29 pm

Go for it. Let him trot out his excuses.
For added fun interview him on Skype and replace the questions afterwards to humiliate him.

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:36 pm

Firehouse, that was my plan to start. It wasn't going to be a quick put him on camera. You know, let him know who I am, what I represent, what I think would be a good way to get him hooked. Maybe fill out some questionnaires, then eventually get him on camera.

I would really like to get a team eventually to undertake this with me. For now I will stick to my own. I have plenty of writing experience, and I'd be happy to share some of my short stories on here sometime if anyone is interested. I could write convincing news articles. Maybe if you guys could help me come up with some interesting and not too outrageous questions to make a questionnaire for lads to fill out.

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:42 pm

Sounds like a good way to start, thanks for clarifying.

I do think it's a very nice way to work the scammers around - I'll look around some of those old threads and see if I can turn up any good interview questions that might be reused.

edit: aha, I knew there was a thread looking for questions. Duckling as interviewer no less.
https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=235674

Here's another, back from the archives:
http://www.419eater.com/html/user_subs/interview/scammer_interview.htm

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:44 pm

First if anyone could help me. I need a semi-legitimate still funny name for my news company. My brain is fried this morning.

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:30 am

Off the top of my head, a few ideas:
Worldwide Television Forum (WTF) News
Euro-American Transatlantic Reports (EATR)
Boston One Investigative (BOI)

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:59 am

I tried this and even wrote a full modality, the lad just begs for money upfront and when told no, you never hear from them again.

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:01 am

Still worth pursuing, it may be necessary to adopt a soft introduction and try the approach on a bunch of lads before getting one to bite.

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 4:44 pm

Quote:

Worldwide Television Forum (WTF) News
Euro-American Transatlantic Reports (EATR)
Boston One Investigative (BOI)

VERY good ideas ... I think you should go for it, but take your time with it Smile