Why we preach anonymity

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Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 6:08 am

Here's a fine example of why Eater is so big on making sure that baiting activities are distinct from your RL identity - a news post from TerranceBoyce on Scamwarners about a group of scammers that have just been arrested in the UK, who are scamming to fund terrorism in Syria

https://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=101148

Quote:

Terrorism overall takes a new form in 2015, it's not on the battlefield... This fraud, this financing terrorism, is on an industrial scale... It is sophisticated, it is a criminal network. This is a threat to the national security of this country
Prosecutor Edward Aydin

These aren't some dumb lads sitting in an Internet cafe 1000s of miles away chucking out crappy scripts to steal a few dollars to pay for their drugs and bling, these are highly organised criminals in the UK who have direct links to terrorism.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 38

Scary shiznit. I keep on trying to put together a proper anonymity FAQ, but RL and advancing technology keep steamrolling me.

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 7:00 am

One thing that I do that I've not seen mentioned anywhere else is do everything related to baiting in a virtual machine- a fake computer running on my computer. It doesn't do a whole ton for privacy, but if, say, I get sent a virus thinking it is a trophy picture (one example of something like this is the CryptoLocker virus, ehich looked like a PDF attachment to victims), and my baiting computer gets messed up I can just reset it to an earlier snapshot. I also have never entered a single bit of personal info on my VM, so the computer is not even remotely tied to me.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 38

VM's are cool, but I find them to be a PITA to set up and run. Probably just because I'm no good at it. But you have to be careful that you don't start putting in more effort than lad. That defeats the purpose of baiting.

Also be careful when you say, "never entered a single bit of personal info on my VM, so the computer is not even remotely tied to me." It's still connecting through your same IP address. So it is tied to you somewhat.

On that note, in this day and age, it's DEFINITELY worthwhile to invest in a good VPN provider. I recommend Liquid VPN. I've gotten to the point now where I always have it connected and randomly switch servers whenever the mood hits.

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 5:48 pm

Vms are a good idea if you know how to set them up. And, if you know how to do set one up, I'm all for it. For me, though, scanning files for virus infection before opening them works just as well.

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 6:44 pm

You don't need a VM to isolate your RL files from your baiting files; you can just create a new user ID on your computer. Anything you do as either yourself or your baiting ID can't affect the OS, because you don't do it as root. I don't do that, but I do use Tor to hide my IP address.

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 7:43 pm

I anonymously bait. No character is anything like me, and even if I make a phone call, the person doesn't sound anything like me. Well, just once, they did.

And I know the importance of this. Long ago and before I met Eater, I baited unsafely, and ended up sleeping three months by my front door, scared that the lad was coming to set fire to my house, like he threatened.

But....

A lad has known my IP address pointing a couple of streets away from where I really live. I doubt he has any friends here, or willing to travel here - but even if he did, he won't find me. Because I'm not a 22 year old living with her parents with a dog called Bingo, and a Shetland pony in her backyard. Nothing like.

Of course I'm careful what I do and what I download and what I open in unsolicited mails - but a lad doesn't want to infect my computer - he wants my computer to keep running beautifully, so that he can keep on writing to me, woo me gently into his script, persuade me to send him lots of lovely money....

Bait safe. But no need to be overly fearful.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 11 Apr 2015 Posts: 23

Yeah, this is all pretty scary. RL doesn't worry me, that's what the 2nd Amendment is for. If they want to show up where I am, it really wouldn't pay them, and if I told you the state, you would know why.

BUT, I wouldn't want them to know where I am, here's why: The example someone gave of getting the law called on them and etc. Phone harassment can be serious as hell. And, if one is not expecting violence because the potential source is in Africa, one is easy game.

I'm really more afraid of screwing up and they get into my real email somehow, or infect my computer, or somehow find out my real name and steal my identity, and that DOES scare me.

Unknowingly emailing someone on a watch list is even more scary. I'm being as careful as possible, but still have a great deal of trepidation. Too many unknowns. Not gonna quit though.

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 10:43 pm

I do the vast majority of my baiting work from my smartphone so no virus worries here

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3876

Str8_Ir8 wrote:

One thing that I do that I've not seen mentioned anywhere else is do everything related to baiting in a virtual machine- a fake computer running on my computer. It doesn't do a whole ton for privacy, but if, say, I get sent a virus thinking it is a trophy picture (one example of something like this is the CryptoLocker virus, ehich looked like a PDF attachment to victims), and my baiting computer gets messed up I can just reset it to an earlier snapshot. I also have never entered a single bit of personal info on my VM, so the computer is not even remotely tied to me.

why not using a raspberry pi connected to a monitor or tv? small, cheap, runs on linux (and is therefor unaffected by windows-virusses), and fully dedicated.

Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 4:16 am

Robert Heinrich der 1. wrote:

why not using a raspberry pi connected to a monitor or tv? small, cheap, runs on linux (and is therefor unaffected by windows-virusses), and fully dedicated.

Don't get me wrong, a Raspberry Pi would be cool, especially one of the new ones, but I haven't got one on hand like I do VMs.