The 419eater Community Pulls Some Legs

trusteR writes "Always in the pursuit to rid the world of 419 scams with new and often very entertaining strategies, the class of 419eater.com have set new records in making scambaiting an entertaining and funny artform. Shipping ANUS laptops, $$$, Death treats, Audio and lots of pictures." This beats the amusement value of a Captain Kirk passport; the scam-baiters here managed to get cash in the mail and get rid of some less-than-perfect hardware.

Seems like a good plan

[Thunderstruck]

I wouldn't worry too much about some scammer from Lagos challenging the payment in a US court. Those who come to the courts with unclean hands seldom get any relief.

Even if the scammer did arrive, how does one demonstrate that the goods shipped were not in fact what was ordered in such a way as to convice a court that your scamming activities are minor enough by comparison as to give you relief?

Re:Worse than 419

[Kenja]

"I hope the cheque bounced, if this guy did cash in the cheque, wouldn't he be in more trouble? ie receiving the money but providing bogus goods?"

Not realy, for the same reason that fraud is aparintly legal in the countries where most of these 419 scams. If the local government isn't doing anything to stop the 419ers because (as they claim) they can't then complain about this "turn about is fair play" stuff. I guess the 419er COULD try and press charges in the US (that would be funny) but so long as the guy sends the box o' stuff via UPS rather then USPS no mail fraud has taken place.

That having been said, I think all parties in this are jerks.

And there goes the servers...

[CheechBG]

Servers just succumbed to the /.ing. From what I read, guy packed 200 pounds of dead hardware in boxes and made the guy pre-pay for shipping. He put a value on the packages for 9500 bucks, which means the poor scammer at the other end will have to pay import fees or something along those lines.

Interesting note in the forum thread, for every 30lbs it is costing this guy $475. Funny stuff. He does have a picture of the 200 in cash.

Eh

[RyoShin]

While I don't mind a scammer getting karma-lized, I have to wonder about the whole procedure. Of course, the legality of the scammar isn't the question, but rather the legality of the counter-scammer. This sounds about the same as the P-p-powerbook (which I'm sure everyone remembers): Sending false goods, misappropiating funds, etc. However, for any charges to be pressed, it will have (had) to be intercepted by federal agents and seen for what it is, or the scammar will have to spill the beans. Both cases are very unlikely, so the counter-scammar is probably safe.

However, I suggest against going this far in the future. Keeping the guy going with fake e-mails is probably fine and well, but when you start with the exchange of funds or goods (sic), where is the line drawn that the counter-scammer doesn't become a scammer himself?

Re:just look for the urgency

[wcrowe]

The old saws still apply:

If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.

Re:Eh

[ravenspear]

where is the line drawn that the counter-scammer doesn't become a scammer himself?

Obviously he is a scammer himself. But that is the whole point. The people doing this wouldn't consider it wrong becasue they are not scamming innocents, but rather those who would scam innocents. Whether that argument is valid is more of a personal opinion. This is just a new form of vigilante justice which has always been a topic of disagreement. If I knew you were going to kill me tomorrow would I be justified in killing you today?

Re:Hmm....

[gcaseye6677]

How about the fact that innocent victims are not being harmed? Old ladies are not being scammed out of their retirement funds. Only those that have shown a desire to scam others are being scammed here. While the legality is questionable, I certainly am not bothered by it.

Re:Good idea!

[Phexro]

And... you get to the second page how?

You can't cheat an honest man.

[karlandtanya]

Con artists depend on the greed and self-delusion of the mark. It is the ability of the mark to lie to himself in order to steal from and cheat other people that makes a con work.

If I'm a con artist, I would love it if every mark thought he was going to turn the tables on me. Makes my job all the easier.

TANSTAAFL, people. Reality is not nearly as exciting as delusion. But it's a lot more reliable.

Re:just look for the urgency

[networkBoy]

what's really funny is you gor an insightful mod!
-nB

Re:Worse than 419

[erick99]

The 419 guys do not travel here to go to court for God's sake. What are they going to say? "While working my daily scam stealing from your citizes, I got ripped off for $200"?