To swat a scammer?

April 30, 2009 10:21 AM

I have a foreign scammer trying to get me on a Craigslist item that just won't take the hint and give up. Should I ignore them, or should I make their lives miserable?

Few days ago, posted a link to a phone on our local Craigslist. The likely scammer's reply is word-for-word as follows:

Thanks for getting back to me concerning the inquiry mail i sent to you about the item and i will like to let you that am so serious in buying this from you, i live at Tynen Starbucks here in US residing in Brooklyn.The price of the item is okay with me.so i want you to know that i will not be able to come over to you to make the pick up and pay in cash due to the fact that am at the camp for a Rugery Coaching in Florida, i will be much glad if you can handle the shipping down to my partner who was currently transferred from USA to Benue Republic at oversea with his team on a research on Human development under world Health Organization also you will be mailing the item out through the US local post office United EMS Express Speed post mail (USPS)down to my partner,i will be paying you through a {USA}paypal or (USA) money order,i have agreed to mail out as bank paypal of $330 for you on my behalf to cover the shipping fees.all i will be needing now from you is your paypal account name and e-mail account address.so that i can send your account info to paypal for the money transfer..i will be expecting the info from you now, so that i can send it to paypal for the instant money transfer.

Gave a reply that amounted to "go away, don't bother". The scammer replied back with "please send me your paypal posthaste". I've gone back and forth a few times, poking a new hole in their story each time, yet they won't give in. Should I just let this one go? Or is there somewhere I can submit them to either:
a) warn others?
b) torture them until they give up scamming?

posted by ConstantineXVI to human relations (25 comments total)

419eater might have some ideas.
posted by exogenous at 10:26 AM on April 30 [1 favorite has favorites]

Do both. It's fun to toy with people who are trying to scam you.
posted by kldickson at 10:26 AM on April 30

Well, you can keep toying with them and then send it along to 419 eater. They have this sort of fun all the time, but how much fun it is for how much effort you put in is up to you.
posted by disillusioned at 10:26 AM on April 30

They will not give up scamming, not ever. If you think it would be fun to screw around with them, go ahead and get your kicks, but if your goal is to stop them, give up now and get back to your life.
posted by decathecting at 10:27 AM on April 30

Why waste your time?
posted by gyusan at 10:28 AM on April 30

Waste your time. Waste their time. Scam the hell out them.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 10:31 AM on April 30

Nigerian scammers don't turn to running this kind of thing for kicks. It's because they have no other way of providing for themselves. That doesn't mean you have to sympathize with them or give them money, but really--tormenting someone when they're already in a bad situation is petty, if not repugnant.
posted by nasreddin at 10:33 AM on April 30 [5 favorites has favorites]

Don't waste your time. Do you reply to spam and write back to junk mail? Just ignore it. Life is short.
posted by gyusan at 10:34 AM on April 30

Just filter their messages and ignore. Not because giving them a hard time is bad -- they are trying to scam you, after all -- but because your time is worth more than that.
posted by inigo2 at 10:35 AM on April 30

If you don't have anything better to do mess with them. If you, however, have more constructive things to do then just delete the mail.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 10:42 AM on April 30

If you waste their time messing with them it is less time that they can devote to stealing from someone less hip to these sorts of things. The idea that tormenting them is repugnant is frankly idiotic. I do not care how poor these people are, they are parasites and thieves and deserve nothing but our contempt for their actions.
posted by BobbyDigital at 10:44 AM on April 30

Nigerian scammers don't turn to running this kind of thing for kicks. It's because they have no other way of providing for themselves. [...] tormenting someone when they're already in a bad situation is petty, if not repugnant.

Not to derail the thread, but surely the same could be said of pretty much all criminals?

I think you shouldn't bother doing anything, not because I have any particular sympathy for the guy trying to steal your ipod (or whatever it is) but because the rewards for you are pretty marginal, unless you find something really funny to do.
posted by Mike1024 at 10:49 AM on April 30

Nigerian scammers don't turn to running this kind of thing for kicks. It's because they have no other way of providing for themselves. That doesn't mean you have to sympathize with them or give them money, but really--tormenting someone when they're already in a bad situation is petty, if not repugnant.

Please. They are thieves. They steal from people who ARE, in fact, legitimately trying to provide for themselves. They create real damages to victims.

ConstantineXVI, if you want to pass these guys along to 419eater go right ahead. It's less time they'll have to steal from someone else.
posted by 26.2 at 11:08 AM on April 30 [3 favorites has favorites]

Thats a stupid analogy. Police have the power to imprison. The OP does not. Id much rather be mocked than jailed.

Seconding its not worth it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:09 AM on April 30

Tell them you have forwarded the email to the police (lie).
Tell them you sold the item already.
posted by anniecat at 11:23 AM on April 30

Nigerian scammers don't turn to running this kind of thing for kicks.

Ugh, there's no guarantee that this guy is "Nigerian" and the person didn't even ask to send it to Nigeria, but rather somewhere else. People from other countries have gotten involved in that kind of thing and do it all the time. In fact, Nigeria actually started cracking down on this kind of thing.

That said, back in the heyday some of these guys made a ton of money. Far more then they would need to 'feed their families' or whatever.
posted by delmoi at 11:26 AM on April 30

Ugh, there's no guarantee that this guy is "Nigerian" and the person didn't even ask to send it to Nigeria, but rather somewhere else. People from other countries have gotten involved in that kind of thing and do it all the time. In fact, Nigeria actually started cracking down on this kind of thing.

Thanks for this, delmoi. There are 148 million people in Nigeria ... and most of them work for a living.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 11:31 AM on April 30 [3 favorites has favorites]

OF COURSE you should mess with them. Make them really believe that you're going to wire the money. Maybe offer to increase the amount?

I don't understand the notion of "having something better to do" -- it's not like you're making a choice between messing with this dickwad and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. There's a lot of potential for hilarity and creativity in this situation.
posted by hamsterdam at 12:15 PM on April 30 [1 favorite has favorites]

Forget it. Life's too short.

"Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back -- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." --Frederick Buechner.
posted by aquafortis at 12:26 PM on April 30 [4 favorites has favorites]

Don't waste your time. Do you reply to spam and write back to junk mail? Just ignore it. Life is short.

DIfferent thing, gyusan. Bulk mail and bulk email are sent to hundreds or thousands of people with one transaction or a button press. This is a 1:1 interaction. For every minute the OP spends baiting this scammer, the scammer is forced to expend a similar or even greater amount of time themselves. If more people would spend a few minutes stringing these guys along they'd have a lot less time to devote to finding actual victims.

So yeah, if I was on the receiving end of this, I'd make this guy jump through as many hoops as possible for fun. "Dumb down" yourself when communicating with him, keep asking for clarification on the smallest details, pretend you've sent things out to the wrong account, etc.
posted by barc0001 at 12:50 PM on April 30 [1 favorite has favorites]

"That sounds like a great idea. Please mail cash (only) to 123 Maple Dr. Anytown USA"

Then start asking them where the money is. Greet every mention of Paypal with something like, "Yes, I know. It sounds very easy and a good deal for both of us. Be sure to wrap the cash in paper or something so it doesn't show through the envelope." There are few things more maddening than intentional stupidity.
posted by rhizome at 1:34 PM on April 30

a) Wait around until the inevitable 2nd Nigerian scammer replies to the same ad.

b) Forge an email from scammer B to scammer A, saying "Yes, please tell me more."

c) Problem solved.
posted by bhance at 5:19 PM on April 30 [1 favorite has favorites]

"Nigerian scammers don't turn to running this kind of thing for kicks. It's because they have no other way of providing for themselves. That doesn't mean you have to sympathize with them or give them money, but really--tormenting someone when they're already in a bad situation is petty, if not repugnant."

I think if it makes them think twice, or be a bit more hesitant to scam someone in the future, it's worth it. I haven't messed with any Nigerian-style scammers, but I've certainly trounced the hopes and dreams of a fair number of North African scam artists hoping to find a Westerner to marry, ie. an easy ticket to a green card.

Sp, OP, I wouldn't waste a lot of time on it, but if this person is being so persistent, go for it.
posted by HopperFan at 5:29 PM on April 30

I had something like this the other day. Responded to a rental ad and they wrote back claiming they had suddenly been transferred out of the country, blah, blah, bad English, blah, bless you, we will send you the keys after a deposit.

Did not respond, but I put it on Twitter and Craig Newmark replied to me, asking me to send him the link to the offending ad (which was really a home for sale, the scammers had swiped the photos and put it up as a rental). I sent him the link and the ad was removed. He wrote back that he was hunting down the offender to see if other ads were out there.

Alternatively, you can flag it and/or send the link to [e-mail], as instructed here.

There is so much of this going on that it's really best to flag it, report it, and move on. Unless you're writing a blog and want to have fun, why waste your time? Seriously, I'd rather spend my energy on more billable hours or looking for a quieter place to live than dealing with these people.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 5:52 PM on April 30 [2 favorites has favorites]

I don't understand the notion of "having something better to do" -- it's not like you're making a choice between messing with this dickwad and building houses with Habitat for Humanity.

True, but given that they're on the internet, time spent e-mailing this scammer is time they could spend looking at pornography; reading interesting articles on MeFi or aldaily; starting the next Google; or all of the above.
posted by Mike1024 at 3:42 PM on May 2