Scam baiting (orscambaiting) is a form ofinternet vigilantism primarily used towardsadvance-fee fraud,IRS impersonation scams,technical support scams,[1] pension scams,[2] and consumer financial fraud.[1]
Scambaiters pose as potential victims to waste the time and resources ofscammers, gather information useful to authorities, and publicly expose scammers. They may document scammers' tools and methods, warn potential victims, provide discussion forums, disrupt scammers' devices and systems usingremote access trojans and computer viruses, or take down fraudulent webpages, while some scambaiters simply call scammers to annoy them and waste their time dealing with a scambaiter, therefore allowing scammers less time to scam potential victims. Some scambaiters are motivated by a sense ofcivic duty, some simply engage for their ownamusement, or a combination of both.[3]
For scams conducted via written communication, baiters may answerscamemails usingthrowaway email accounts, pretending to be receptive to scammers' offers.[4]
Popular methods of accomplishing the first objective are to ask scammers to fill out lengthy questionnaires;[5] to bait scammers into taking long trips; to encourage the use of poorly made props or inappropriate English-language idioms that surreptitiously cast doubt upon their scams.[6]
Baiters may deceive scammers with claims as ludicrous as the ones they have used to defraud their victims, or they may entrap them withTrojan horses, such asremote administration tools, that enable baiters to gain sensitive information from or damage scammers' computers. Baiters may publicly humiliate scammers bylive streaming their sessions[1] or persuading them to produce humiliating images colloquially known as "trophies". Some of the images that were uploaded to early scam baiting websites have been described as a form ofschadenfreude[7] or reinforcing racist stereotypes.[8][9][10][11] However, modern day scam baiting content is primarily centred around education on how the scams work and how to prevent falling victim to scams.[12]
In May 2004, aSomething Awful forum poster asked for advice on how to deal with abogus escrow scam from a buyer oneBay. Since the eBay auction was for anApplePowerBook G4, the poster sent a three-ring binder crudely dressed as a PowerBook and declared it to customs at the value of a real product. The buyer, who lived overseas, paid several hundred dollars in import duties to claim the fake laptop.[4][13] A member of the scambaiting website419eater.com was able to convince a scammer to send him a wooden replica of aCommodore 64.[14]
In 2005, a member of419eater.com posed as an aid worker at a refugee camp on the Chad/Sudan border in order to bait a trio of Nigerian 419 scammers. He convinced the scammers to travel to the camp to receive $145,000 in person, which would require them to travel through a war zone as well as a region experiencing an active genocide. Two of the men attempted the journey before disappearing, presumably having been jailed or killed by militants, and their boss (the uncle of one of the men sent) realized they had been baited only after selling his car to travel to Khartoum after the baiter convinced him that the men were being held in custody there. This sparked a debate on the website regarding the ethics of baiting scammers into dangerous situations.[15]
In February 2011, the Belgian television showBasta portrayed, with hidden cameras, how a scammer was fooled during a meeting with baiters, raising the stakes by involving a one-armed man, twodwarves and a pony. Eventually, apolice raid was faked, during which the baiters were "arrested" and the scammer went free, abandoning the money, and without any suspicion.[16]
In January 2014, members of419eater.com appeared in two segments of theChannel 4 showSecrets of the Scammers. In the first segment scambaiters persuaded a scammer to travel from London to a remote location inCornwall by train and taxi to meet a victim (played by a baiter) and collect payment for a gold deal. In the second segment a female scammer met with two scambaiters posing as victims inTrafalgar Square to pass them a fake check. This scammer was subsequently questioned by the police.
In 2015 and 2016,James Veitch hosted threeTED talks about scambaiting.[17] Veitch also presented theMashable video series "Scamalot" onYouTube.[18]
In March 2020, an anonymous YouTuber andgrey hat hacker under the alias "Jim Browning" infiltrated and gathereddrone andCCTV footage of a fraudulent call centre scam operation in India with the help of fellow YouTube personalityKarl Rock. Through the aid of the British documentary programmePanorama, a police raid was carried out when the documentary was brought to the attention of assistant police commissioner Karan Goel.[19]
YouTube andTwitch are popular platforms scambaiters use to educate and entertain their audience about various types of scams.[20]
