More records of people baiting Nigerian scammers: http://419eater.com/html/letters.htm. People on http://www.419eater.com/ lead these “4-1-9” scammers on wild goose chases deliberately to waste their time, in the hopes of distracting them from attacking other people and also just having fun.
Not to defend or in any way condone the actions of the scammers (which I certainly don't), but I wonder how many of the counter-scammers do so out of high-mindedness, and how many are just looking for a chance to humiliate a relatively easy target - particularly after seeing some of the photos in the 'Trophy Room'.
I also wonder how many of those initiating the scams are actually the vicious, heartless criminals that the site insists they are - for example, one of the exchanges [1] results in the scammer sending about 9 hours of (ostensibly) himself reading Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy on the promise of earning some money for it. Career criminal, or having trouble finding work? Of course, some are genuinely dangerous people but it seems to me that there is probably a spectrum.
As I said, I'm not trying to defend those who seek to profit at the expense of others, but the level of grandstanding present on that site leaves me thinking that some of the counter-scammers themselves are doing exactly that.
Who cares why they do it? And who cares why the 419 scammers do it? The point is, scamming makes the world a worse place and it's done because it makes money. Anything that can be done to ensure that it never makes money makes it more likely to go away. Yes, there's a chance people just looking for work are the ones who's time is wasted. Bad luck, but they chose that job. Yes, it's possible that the counter-scammers enjoy their hobby a bit to much. At least they use their possible character flaws to better mankind, ever so slightly.
I don't think 419 scammers are necessarily evil people, but if you make your living stealing from people, then I say fair play for people trying to humiliate you for a laugh.
> Not to defend or in any way condone the actions of the scammers (which I certainly don't), but I wonder how many of the counter-scammers do so out of high-mindedness, and how many are just looking for a chance to humiliate a relatively easy target - particularly after seeing some of the photos in the 'Trophy Room'.
I honestly had the same thought: is it right to make fun of people who are clearly poor, less fortunate and were born into that?
Then again, read some of those interviews with nigeria scammers and others and see for yourself what they are saying about "dumb", "greedy" Westerners and how high and mighty they feel about being able to do what they are doing. That really put it into perspective for me and then it is not making unfair fun of unfortunate people but making fun of shady, slimy assholes and trying to rid the world of some evil - and that is a good thing.
