Has the "Golden Age" of scambaiting passed?

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Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 2:46 pm

Hey all,

I'm new to this site and scambaiting in general. I've spent the past few days reading all the FAQs, Eater Uni hints and tips about baiting lads and whatnot, and one thing I've noticed is that the 'tone' of baiting that was going down 2000-2010 seems almost light years away from that of what's happening now.

It's not just that Eaters these days aren't sending fake docs or trying to scam lads in return like the baiters of yore were doing. It seems to me as if lads were a lot easier to manipulate 10 years ago, though. I mean, look at all the legendary trophy photos in the galleries here - they're not recent. I can't imagine getting lads in 2017 to tattoo themselves, paint their chests red or carve a C64 out of wood.

Or have I got it wrong?

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 3:07 pm

Things have been evolving, lads are growing more savvy but baiters are also adapting to the new way of things. There are lads still willing to travel, do strange things and generally make a fool of themselves.
No doubt we'll see a few lads given the run around during the year and produce some interesting things.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 3:14 pm

Scammers have gotten more evolved and may not fall for the same baits they would have years ago. Their methods have evolved too with many moving to sites like facebook and scamming from their phones instead of cafes (no more "lazy sunday" where scammers would rarely be available when the internet cafes were closed).

That said there are many epic baits (long safaris, tattoos, etc.) still happening. If you're looking in the trophy section off the main site, you'll see a lot of "classic" trophies, those from years ago. But check out areas like Eater's Greatest Hits, and the main forum here and you'll see some great new ones.

Here's two of my personal favorites from the past year. These baits feature awesome trophies, a safari, a tattoo, etc.

I want my lad to wear the Borat Mankini (+Video, NSFW)
https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277570

A Fowl For Love - Wooed, Screwed, and Tattooed (NSFW)
https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=271883

And here is a fun one that has run over 10 years and includes entries by veteran and new baiters alike

Lad Deck Completed - A 10+ Year Mass Bait
https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=281490

ETA... another very cool and very recent bait.

From Burkina, with love! Smile

Now with NSFW Pics!
https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=280353

Welcome to Eater.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 4:29 pm

Its just evolving. Lads are changing tactics, so are baiters. I mostly straight bait, dont really have time for the fun stuff. But accidentally caught one that may prove worthy. This thread inspired me to go ahead and make a post about it.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 5:56 pm

Padme was too modest to mention it, but here is her and Dr Stephen Williams' latest project with his multiple tattoos

Woody Tat 4 DSW & Padme

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:44 pm

Quote:

I can't imagine getting lads in 2017 to tattoo themselves, paint their chests red or carve a C64 out of wood.

Ser_Davos and his group did that in 2016: Game of TWATs, As Far Away as Timbuktu (and follow up here). Safari, ritual video, tattoo and some great fashion photos Laughing

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 9:36 pm

I'm still getting lads joining my church, filling out forms, taking trophy pics, posing naked with goats, etc. I admit its getting a little tougher to get them to do this stuff, but they do still do it.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 10:13 pm

Eater has been around for quite a while now, so many lads have at least heard of baiting, even if they haven't been baited themselves.

At the same time, baiters are adjusting their own tactics. It's a constant game of cat and mouse. Lads are lazy and always will be, but some are still gullible enough to go on long safaris, get tattoos, et cetera.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 11:11 pm

Nothing you'll see in the Letters Archive can even hold a candle to Turd, and that bait only concluded a couple years ago (or maybe Turd is just in prison in Uganda, biding his time until he can finally collect his money)

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 2:38 am

Turd appears to be in prison in Djibuti. We are working on finding this out for sure. This is a recent development.

But to answer you, Baitingfuriously, the lads have evolved. We have evolved, too. One of the baits i have have enjoyed is this one by Oscarpiles. He totally destroys this scammer, and it is funny as hell to read.

Its harder work, now, I suppose, but some of the baiting done ere is very sophisticates.

One of my favorite lad tattoos is this one, which i got along with Padme. The Lati says "419 Eater".

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 2:58 am

The best comparison I can make is drug testing in sports. Though leagues, the WADA and that sort of thing all have sophisticated tools to catch players who use performance enhancing drugs, the ones who do use PEDs are mostly using newer, designer PEDs that are much more difficult to detect.

In response to this, drug testing becomes tougher. It's a constant game of cat and mouse. And sometimes, you'll have an athlete test positive for an old, outdated, easy to detect steroid, which I guess is akin to a lad joining or getting something silly tattooed on them.

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 11:21 am

Asked and answered! Thanks to all those who responded.

Even though I know what TWAT actually is, I confess to kinda wanting to become a disciple anyway. Wink

Elite Baiter Joined: 28 Mar 2015 Posts: 1916

@DSW - so Turd might still be alive? You have just made my day! Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3876

^^^
mine too

and even better: prison in djibouti Very Happy

for 1 1/2 years now

was there ever a lad who went to prison twice on safaries?

EDIT: but what was he doing there? did he try to get to dubai via the red sea and then on the land-way on the arab peninsula? and what has he done over there to get into jail.

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 12:18 pm

It's not just the old timers who are doing great stuff, either.
Check out threads "From Burkina with love" and Sister Mary's audio book lad, both updated very recently in Main - great ongoing baits by members who have only been here a few months. There are plenty more examples, these are just the one with most recent activity.

Indeed, some styles of bait are much less common, for example art baits (in part due to challenges in safely receiving items) so we always count on imaginative members with new ideas to develop the next generation of "classics".

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 12:22 pm

Quote:

Even though I know what TWAT actually is, I confess to kinda wanting to become a disciple anyway.

At least we can sure that your Monument of Faith would be the genuine article.

Edited to make it clear what I was on about.

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 1:02 pm

firehouse5 wrote:

It's not just the old timers who are doing great stuff, either".

As an old timer I couldn't agree more.

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 2:28 pm

BigBeautifulBaiter wrote:

Ser_Davos

Underscore!?!

It was Ser Davos and friends. And one of those friends was paying attention when Jojo was teaching safari school. Our Swiss friend put three more piths in his sig line in a short period of time.

You can still mess with lads. As long as you stay with the times you can have fun.

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:29 am

I also really liked @Dr Labowski's bait with Eric and Franklin with our favorite courier modality Smile

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 5:07 am

I tend to agree with you. I'm a relative newbie here. But what I've observed is that the golden age of baiting, (in terms of published baits, safaris, tatoos, carvings, etc..) was indeed a few years back. Those things are just not as common as they were in the past. When I joined Eater just 3 years ago, there were quite a few long baits going on at once that made it to the EHOF. Nowadays, there might be 1-2 HOF type baits per year and seldom ever a safari.

If you check out the audio forum, it used to be incredibly active 3-4 years ago. Now, it seems maybe 1-2 audio threads are posted a month at best. So perhaps phone baiting is a thing of the past as many lads are now baited on FB or Skype chat. Lads are also more wary and paranoid than ever. The Burkina with Love bait is a classic example of extreme lad paranoia, and it's also an example of recent EHOF material.

Master Baiter Joined: 27 Dec 2012 Posts: 178

The way i have always seen it is, their are stupid lads who will do stupid things, remember a new lads gets into the business probably everyday, these stupid lads are not as clued on as a smart lad who may have been scamming for the last 15years or so, so you will be able to make these stupid wannabe rich lads play along easier to your crazier baits and maybe get some hilarious trophies.

Now smart lads, these lads are more clued on but most definitely not unbaitable. A smart lad can be alot more fun cause he is willing to work for his money. A smart lad is normally not a lazy lad so if you can make him truly believe your bait is real and story he will sometimes travel and do some wild things for his cash. Just with a smart lad you need to be wiser with your baits and they are more likely to be reading your emails more carefully, so keep to your story and be 3 steps ahead.

Now lazy lads, oh those lazy lads, which you will find alot of. Lazy lads have no imagination, can barely get outta bed to answer your calls, hell i dont even reckon they read the dam email you sent them because all im getting in replies is, "go to western union, payment of X amount with these details" over and over. All these lads know how to do is copy and paste, copy and paste , repeat and then expect money to fall in their laps. So dont expect much outta these lads at first or ever, you gotta wake them up abit before they even understand whats going on in your bait. These lads i normally dollarchop, that sometimes wakes them up abit Smile

So to answer your question, i have always had fond memories of this place and baiting. I joined in 2012 and have gone and came back a few times and have always had golden times baiting and always seen awesome baits going on. So i dont think or anyone thinks the golden ages have gone, they are still here Smile

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 9:30 am

I've read all the new entries with interest. I still think baiting might have been easier/better a few years back, and it makes me wish I got into it earlier.

Mind you, even though I'm still learning the ropes (my current baits are only a week old) some of these lads have said and done things that have really made me laugh. So I guess there's always hope I can eventually contribute something to the Eater Hall of Fame, or whatever it's called.

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:57 pm

As advised previously, be sure to hustle on over to the Greatest Hits area. Several are fairly recent and all are worthy of the title.

@DSW: I really hope that is true. Prison in Dubai is a fitting place for Moishe. I hope you will share some of the recent developments with us soonest!

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 3:44 am

Quote:

Turd appears to be in prison in Djibuti. We are working on finding this out for sure. This is a recent development.

Fasten your seatbelts new baiters. Turd can probably manage to get safarid while in prison.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3876

just for safaries:

there are still 2 types of lads which will be easily go on safari

1. gold lads: they have "representatives" or "diplomats" in europe and maybe even the US. and they happily show up if you can convince them that there is serious money involved.

2. other lads including romance lads, if you can convince them, that picking up money through a "diplomat" is the only trustworthy way of transmitting the money in cash.

both types of safaries will be in areas in the world, where it is rather expensive to travel, and the safaried friend of the lad (who clearly knows about the scam and is NOT an ITP) will get troubles. especially, if you can convince the original lad, that the "diplomat" actually took the money, while the "diplomat" hasn't found you. lads often have to rely on loose contacts for those kinds of safaries (like the friend of a friend is in london, england, and he can do the journey to rame head Wink

)

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