Scam Baiting for Fun and..Well, Just for Fun - 5,655 Views, 24 Comments
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Scam baiting - the act of leading scammers on a wild goose chase - has been raised to a new art form with the advent of the Internet, and Internet scammers. And none more so (or more deservingly) than the so-called 419 scammers. You know the ones: “I am Mariam Abacha…“, and someone has always died with a lot of money hidden away, and they want you to help them get the money out of the country. But first you have to send them some earnest money. While some do it on their own, for the sheer joy of baiting a scammer, groups and even complete websites have sprung up, all dedicated to scamming 419 scammers. And unlike the controversial Mugu Marauder, which encourages untargeted users to churn bandwidth of websites which may themselves be innocent, the individuals involved with the 419 scam baiting sites are responding directly to 419 scammers who have targeted them. One of the more prolific, and certainly amusing, sites is the 419 Eater site. The 419 Eater site starts out with this warning: “Please remember that these people are CRIMINALS and should be treated as such. Under no circumstances must you enter into any communications with these people unless you feel you are adequately prepared to deal with them.” Good advice, that. Ok, so maybe it isn’t getting these guys arrested, but hey, it’s keeping them busy, and exposing them (in more ways than one!) And it’s darned funny. Check out 419 Eater at 419Eater.com. 
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Clearly the people running 419 Eater feel adequately prepared, and indeed they seem to be. The 419 Eaters regularly send their pet 419 scammers on goose chases which involve filling out and returning bogus forms (” the bank said you must first fill out a Money Laundering and Fraud Suppression Certificate”), and even taking and returning photos of their scammy selves holding up hand-lettered signs for the camera (”Ohwa Tafu Kwit Iam”).
Scam Baiting for Fun and..Well, Just for Fun
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Previous Article « 9 Out of 10 Teens Now Online, Eschew Email, Embrace Instant Messenger
Read Next Article » Hackers, Government Unite to Take Down Terrorist Websites
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» Enormous Global 419 Nigerian Scam Bust
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i want to submit this email address as a scam mail address princeuzo70@ yahoo.com, so u should know wht to do about it ok.
i will want u to close it finally
Comment by innocent afam — 12/22/2006 @ 10:40 am
want to submit this email address as a scam mail address
dbaker@cox-internet.com
so u should know wht to do about it ok.
i will want u to close it finally
Comment by Mike — 1/4/2007 @ 8:22 am
THE BRITISH GAMING BOARD zonies2@cox.net
THE NATIONAL LOTTERY claimsdept888@hotmail.com
These are scams. Please take care of these.
Comment by Veronica Smith — 8/8/2007 @ 12:37 pm
someone scambait some prick named gary cartford . he claims to be from UK but his english is awful . he is trying to scam me right now .
Comment by count — 9/13/2007 @ 6:31 pm
er .. this is gary`s e mail addy
gcart01@yahoo.com
Comment by count — 9/13/2007 @ 6:33 pm
Gary Cartford is trying right now to pretend to want to rent from me.
Comment by NTice — 10/30/2007 @ 8:49 am
He is trying to rent from me too!
Comment by Hershey — 10/30/2007 @ 9:25 am
this gary just scammed me…he said he wanted to rent from me …he got me ….be careful he sends you a fake check and then tells you his company sent you to much and to send the difference back so he can proceed with traveling plans…. Real piece of shit
Comment by y — 10/31/2007 @ 6:29 pm
Ntice…lets try to set this guy …. email me at yfromchi@gmail.com…i would love to catch this guy..he burned me
Comment by y — 10/31/2007 @ 6:31 pm
James Walter-same wording as GAry Cartford’s email, same date to move in=watch out for him as well!!
Comment by ntice — 11/2/2007 @ 2:18 pm
totally just recieved an email about him wanting to move in and coming from the UK… I will give him a FAT no thank you… well done you guys, thanks for the forum to catch assholes like this.
Comment by dvav — 11/14/2007 @ 2:46 pm
Peter Dickson is another name
GaryCartford uses. Claims company overpays for rent, asks for reimbursement of bad check
Comment by ntice — 11/14/2007 @ 7:17 pm
Gary Carford sent us an email he’s coming from the UK wants to move in November 30th. We were suspicious, I think he wants to steal your ID. Thanks for the info
Comment by Tim Hill — 11/17/2007 @ 7:40 pm
well done patrol! he is still at it. i recommend forwarding the bad check and SSN to your local FBI office.
Comment by mark — 11/17/2007 @ 8:23 pm
Gary Cartford (alias) is using the telephone number of 011-44-794-310-5125 . He says that he sent me a check for rent and involved is a living expense to be used in his move that he wants me to refund to him. He wanted to rent my home and found my listing on Cragslist.com. Thanks for the heads-up. He sounded fishy from the beginning.
Comment by DSC — 11/24/2007 @ 11:41 am
Gary Cartford is trying to rent from us right now. Besides the same email address(gcart101@yahoo.com) & phone 7943105125 also gave us a social security number of XXX-XX-3021…to do a credit check. Thanks for alerting us to him. We also were posting on craigs list.
Comment by pal — 11/26/2007 @ 4:28 pm
Thank all of you for putting this info in the Web. Gary Cartford emailed us this weekend wanting to rent our house on Craigs List. Same name, phone, etc. Said he was from London and worked for Global Link. Something seemed odd, so I googled him and found this. thanks for saving us from wasting a lot of time.
Comment by Harry — 1/14/2008 @ 5:58 am
I have had a lot of these people try to get me through Craig’s list. I have been trying to rent my house as well and he gives me all the same info that he gave you guys. How does this scam work, does he use that SS# and DOB that belongs to someone else. Is there some poor sap named gary out there getting his credit shred to hell? I forwarded his email and DOB on to the local police force, should I do more, can I do more. I hate thieves, unless your stealing food due to hunger or a coat because you are cold and you have not other option. But these guys are terrible.
Comment by James Dewsbury — 1/22/2008 @ 6:23 am
Personally, I write back politely explaining that I can’t help (usually because I’m dead, or suffering from the Ebola virus, or something similar) and then I direct them to a charity who has an established record of helping people in their position - namely thescambaiter.com. Other sites may or may not do better work, but they have the best pictures.
Comment by Chainsaw — 9/6/2008 @ 12:10 am
James Walter just contacted me via craigslist….same thing…trying to do a UK move and reimburse the difference scam.
Comment by Jon — 9/21/2008 @ 11:24 am
terry James just did the same thing. You would think they would change the game up a little at least.
Comment by BoroRenter — 10/10/2008 @ 3:39 am
I am SOOOO lucky I have won half a million pounds with Cocacola :-).
I have to contact this Mr A. Terry
Comment by Pablo — 11/2/2008 @ 12:55 am
CLAIM OFFICER
Clinton Moore and Francis Bowell
This ‘DUDE’ wants info of mine and says that he works at a coca cola in great britain. 21 Caroline street VHQ LONDON, UK. he says i won 3,000,000 in coca cola lottery. i dont care for money. I have plenty. please look it up and people please dont fall for junk like this.
Comment by V — 11/5/2008 @ 10:42 am
Terry james said he found me on craigs list.I had been selling a ring and laptop and we chatted,said he was a building contractor for Corporate Engineering Limited.Said he had a 15 year old son Dan,he said he was originally from England but moved to USA when his parents died.was married to becky but she died four years ago in a car accident,he was from bakersfield,California.Said he was building I corporate reteat and he and dan were staying at the whitehouse Hotel in lagos.Nigeria and the contract was almost uop.Sent me a check for $29,995,95 and asked me to cash it from him.I sent it to the real comapny it came from and it was a stolen check.Customes.secret service and law enforcement agencies are hot on his trail.His email was terry.james002@yahoo.com.I knew he was a scammer when he started asking for money .telling me he loved me,and started harrassing and threatening me when i received the check and I did not tell him i sent it to the company it was stolen from
Comment by RobinL — 8/8/2009 @ 7:51 am