Scammers and Fraud

[drcornishlove]

Scammers and people are becoming more ferquent on WOC, but my main question is what do you think of these unruly people, I know WOC AND the hosts are dealing with them, but I want to know what you think??

Scam baiting is a form of Internet vigilantism where the vigilante poses as a potential victim to the scammer in order to waste their time, gather information that will be of use to authorities, or publicly humiliate the scammer. It is, in essence, a form of social engineering that may have an altruistic motive or may be motivated by malice. It is primarily used to thwart the 419 Nigerian advance-fee scam and can be done either out of a sense of civic duty or as a form of amusement.
Scam baiting is usually done simply by gaining access to an e-mail address that has already been targeted by scammers, which given the prevalence of the spam is not a difficult proposition. Once access is gained, the baiter impersonates a person that is receptive to the financial hook that the scammer is using. The objective is to keep the scam going as long as possible, costing the scammer time and energy. Secondary goals include gathering as much information as possible to share with authorities. Amusement that the baiter may gain from the interaction include fooling the scammer into falling for claims just as ludicrous as the ones that the scammer is using to bilk the victim of money. Many baiters will use joke names (Hugh Janus, Jenny Talwarts, and so on) which while obviously ludicrous to a native or fluent English speaker will go unnoticed by the scammer. Similarly baiters may introduce characters and even plot-lines from movies or television shows for comedic effect.

I use my common sense about stuff like that, dodgy offers and stuff.

Then again, I google info about dodgy emails and scams, because 100% of the time there's a 100+ other people who have had the same.

Scams are just people selling the same scams found in emails, but in a different way. Ok, a fake bank/company/online shop email has a fake link which sends you to a fake form so you GIVE them your most important financial details. A fake business/ financial arrangement will also encourage you to give your details, and your money, based on the words of someone you've never met. Don't tell me you've NEVER had those junk emails that tell you in bright red letters and lots of !!!! that you're in a draw to win £££££ or holidays, etc, and all you need to do is call up a number, or- actually I've torn it up and fed it to my shredder at this point.

Thank you banks/facebook/google/whoever for selling my contact information to annoying pointless fraudulent companies.

I'm sure DrCornishlove and others thought *omg, scammers and fraud here on woc?!?!* and clicked on this....And the next part is for you. I found it pretty disappointing after DrCornishLove dealt with the scammer today by telling people *not to go into the lounge because there's a scammer in there*, informing the admin, and creating this thread, whilst there was little information about what was even meant by scammer/fraud. It made me think of online(and offline) scams and identity thefts, so this is for anyone who would like a little bit of enlightenment. Just google up the following topics and read the relevant information.

"What are fake hyperlinks" -choose 2nd result

"What are fake websites" -choose 1st result

"What can viruses do" -choose 1st result

"Scammers lists" -1st result- This one doesn't look like an information site, but I assure you it is, but is demonstrating it's cleverness already.

"Protecting identity"- 2nd page, 2nd result down- (15 must-know tips, which is also useful for offline)

and finally

"Internet fraud"- 1st result.


Hopefully this will make you realise what you should already be doing concerning scammers and fraud, then just running away from one that happens to be in a room.

P.s. Tys for making this thread, and letting me stuff all this stuff into it too Dr. Also edited my crassy comments about Dr in my first edits of this post, because at least he made a thread, and informed folk of a dodgy guy, and told the admin.

[tommysize1]

if you enjoy reading scam emails put your email address up everywhere you can on the net.
i get about 10 a day.
theyre starting to repeat now.

i love being told "congratulations of the season!"
"i am a nigerian princess in need of loving guidance"
"this is the FBI !!!!!"
i got one from david cameron & ban ki moon the other day! lol

i post them all up on my crappy website. seems to get a few hits so i guess it helps