Scambaiting: Scam The Scam Artist

We're all familiar with those rotten emails from con artists in Nigeria, right? You know; the ones where some dude promises millions of dollars if you just send him some money first. But did you know there are people who make it their mission to get even with these sons of bitches? It's called scambaiting, and it is awesome! 419 Eater explains how it works:

"You enter into a dialogue with scammers simply to waste their time and resources. Whilst you are doing this, you will be helping to keep the scammers away from real potential victims and screwing around with the minds of deserving thieves. It doesn't matter if you are new to this sport or a hardened veteran; if you are wasting the time of a scammer, or frustrating them in any way, well, that's good enough for us..."

Gotta love that!

In any case, to turn the tables on these con artists, scambaiters get these shit-heads to take photos of themselves holding up signs or doing ridiculous things. For example, a scambaiter might email back to the scammer with, "Hey... before I do business with you, I just need to make sure I am dealing with a real person, so I want you to take a photo of yourself holding up a sign with my name on it..." Then they tell the scammer that their name is 'Jack MeHoff' (or some such comedic moniker.)

Here are some great pics of would-be scammers, straight from 419eaters.com. Click on the pics for a larger view:

And surely, what must go down as one of the greatest scambaiting pics ever...

Pretty funny, huh? For more laughs, and more on the whole "419" scam and how to protect yourself, be sure to visit 419 Eaters!

Thanks, 419eaters.com!