Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Brief tips on scambaiting

The biggest tip is to do it safely. Google for "safe baiting" and you'll find tons of advice.

Slow down. The goal is to waste his time, not just get a laugh. Keep
it going as long as possible.

Do not educate the scammer. Don't burn him, don't say "hah you should
know that in America we do not use this format for addresses! Mugu!",
don't correct his idiocy. Bear in mind that even the dumbest mistakes
he makes obviously go unnoticed by his victims. You don't want to make
him better at his job.

Get acquainted with straightbaiting. In the Klutz Book of Magic
tricks, it teaches how to do the french drop: "hold a quarter. Pass it
to the other hand. That is the perfect french drop. All you have to do
now is do the same thing, but without passing the quarter over." This
is the same way to approach scambaiting. Learn how to be
indistinguishable from a real victim. Once you can give the perfect
illusion of being gullible and full of money, only then can you trick
him by not passing the money over.

Sunk costs. The more time and effort he puts into scamming you, the
more willing he will be to put in more time and effort. Use this to
your advantage.

Don't worry about continuity too much. As long as you don't change
genders without an explanation, or suddenly resurrect a dead spouse
without going to Lourdes, you'll be fine. These guys are not that
bright.

That being said, don't pick on the scammer's continuity for fun. It
will educate him. Only pick holes in his story to further the illusion
of being confused and gullible. In other words, rationalize why you
want to pick a hole in his plot. Just don't do it without thinking of
how it will make you more appealing as a victim.

2 comments:

  1. hey, quite amusing posts lately.
    you got real internet now or what?
    hows the uberman going?
    haven't seen you in #polyphasers in months!

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  2. I've got a terrible wifi connection, still. It disconnects way to often and is too slow for me to use irc sanely.

    I've moved into a more freeform sleep schedule, sleeping on average 2.5 hours a day split usually along my normal nap times. I skip, sleep for more time, etc, pretty freely. I don't know what to call it, except awesome.

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