Scambaiters

he wanted this............................he got this

btw, I wasted the better part of the day today catching up on Mike Berry's site 419 Eater. The first time I happened across it was a couple of years ago after reading an article about the Powerbook Prank, a hilarious account of an eBay scammer who got his comeuppance. (see pic above) Click here for the article. It made me feel slightly better about all of those thousands of annoying emails I get every year from spammers. Oooh, I just hate these guys!

Here are two that were in my inbox this morning. The first one, Tina, is all business. She/he doesn't even bother to fill in my name - instead she/he leaves it "Dear," - I mean, where's the love "Tina"?

FROM TINA JAME.
LOME TOGO WEST AFRICA.

DEAR,

MY NAME IS TINA JAME. THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF LATE MR AND MRS KOFFI JAME, PLEASE AND PLEASE DO NOT BE EMBARASED,I AM SEEKING YOUR ATTENTION TO HELP ME TRANSFER THE SUM OF ($4.5,000,000,00 US DOLLARS) FOUR MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE AMERICAN DOLLARS. IN YOUR ACCOUNT PLEASE IT IS MORE THAN URGENT.

MOREOVER, DEAR, I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 15% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS COMPENSATION FOR YOUR EFFORT/INPUT AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THIS FUND INTO YOUR NOMINATED ACCOUNT OVERSEAS.

Then there is Mrs. Destiny Henry. Someone put a little thought into this one. Course, I upchucked at "Dear Beloved in Christ", so I didn't read it, but I'm sure it's a heart wrenching tale:

DEAR BELOVED IN CHRIST,
IT IS BY THE GRACE OF GOD THAT I RECEIVED CHRIST,KNOWING THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH HAVE SET ME FREE.HAVING KNOWN THE TRUTH I HAD NO CHOICE THAN TO DO WHAT IS LAWFUL AND RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD FOR ETERNAL LIFE AND IN THE SIGHT OF MAN FOR WITNESS OF GOD´S MERCY AND GLORY UPON MY LIFE.

I AM MRS.DESTINY HENRY FROM GHANA.I AM MARRIED TO DR.FRANK HENRY WHO WORKED WITH CHEVRON/TEXACO IN EGYPT FOR TWENTY YEARS BEFORE HE DIED IN THE YEAR 2002.WE WERE MARRIED FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A CHILD, HE DIED DURING ONE OF THE RIOTS IN THE EGYPT .HE WAS HELD HOSTAGE AND SLAIN TO DEATH BY PROTESTING YOUTHS OF THE REGION IN EDO STATE BEFORE HIS DEATH WE WERE BOTH BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS.

SINCE HIS DEATH I DECIDED NOT TO RE-MARRY.WHEN MY LATE HUSBAND WAS ALIVE HE DEPOSITED THE SUM OF (US3.5M)WITH A BANK IN THE NIGERIA AND NOW THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BANK HAVE JUST WROTE ME TO COME FORWARD TO RECEIVE THE MONEY OR RATHER ISSUE A LETTER OF AUTHORISATION TO SOMEBODY TO RECEIVE IT ON MY BEHALF IF I CAN NOT COME OVER BECAUSE OF MY CONDITION AT HAND.I AM PRESENTLY WITH MY LAPTOP IN A HOSPITAL WHERE I HAVE BEEN UNDERGOING TREATMENT FOR CANCER OF THE LUNGS, I HAVE SINCE LOST MY
ABILITY TO TALK AND MY DOCTORS HAVE TOLD ME THAT I HAVE ONLY A FEW MONTHS TO LIVE.

IT IS MY LAST WISH TO SEE THAT THIS MONEY IS INVESTED AND AT THE END OF EVERY YEAR DISTRIBUTED AMONG CHARITY ORGANISATION. AND FOR YOUR COMPESATION, AS SOON AS THE MONEY ENTERS YOUR ACCOUNT TAKE 30%OF THE TOTAL MONEY, WHILE 70% WILL BE FOR THE WORK OF GOD.

I TOOK THIS DECISION BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE ARE ALOT OF POOR PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM DIFFERENT KIND OF DISEASE AND NOBODY TO COME TO THEIR AID.WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR REPLY I SHALL GIVE YOU THE CONTACT OF THE BANK IN NIGERIA WERE THE MONEY IS BEEN DEPOSITED .I WILL ALSO ISSUE YOU A LETTER OF AUTHORITY AND CERTIFICATE OF CLAIM THAT WILL PROVE YOU AS THE NEW BENEFICIARY OF THIS FUND. GET BACK TO ME AT ASAP I AWAIT YOUR URGENT REPLY.
YOURS IN CHRIST,
MRS.DESTINY HENRY

Needless to say, it's a good idea to never respond to these people. I just hit the spam key and send them away, without even opening them.

Anyway, Mike's got a great site dedicated to wasting the time of these Internet slugs. He has found creative (and oh-so-amusing) ways to mess with their minds, and you can spend hours there, checking out the forums of baiters discussing tactics, reading pages of correspondences back and forth between Mike and his scammer 'victims' - there are even audio files and wonderfully photoshoped pics to laugh at. If you've never read his site, check it out. You'll feel like a million bucks when you're done, like you've run a marathon, or helped a little old lady across the street, or gotten your tires realigned. It's just the world, balancing itself out a little.

Oh, and Mike spoke with Xeni Jardin on NPR's "Day to Day". Click here for a link to that article. There's one particular scam he did that involves the email crooks acting out a Monty Python sketch - you wouldn't believe how stupid these guys are! Unbelievable!