Scam Baiting Dressup - Real or Fake?

[Tiberius]

Never to be seen again... http://www.myspace.com/iameljefe

According to his MySpace, he just stopped answering all the fanmail he got. To be honest, I don't really care if it's real or not; it made for one epic read. Certainly the amount of people involved (and the girl who phoned up to pretend to be Jeff's wife) makes it a little unlikely it was a scam.

According to the sites where this is documented, it took place way back in 2003, so to be honest I don't expect his site (or indeed the scammer's site) to be still up. The only reason the story is still around is because it got archived on zug.com. Even the SomethingAwful threads have been archived.

[theVOID]

Never to be seen again... http://www.myspace.com/iameljefe

According to his MySpace, he just stopped answering all the fanmail he got. To be honest, I don't really care if it's real or not; it made for one epic read. Certainly the amount of people involved (and the girl who phoned up to pretend to be Jeff's wife) makes it a little unlikely it was a scam.

According to the sites where this is documented, it took place way back in 2003, so to be honest I don't expect his site (or indeed the scammer's site) to be still up. The only reason the story is still around is because it got archived on zug.com. Even the SomethingAwful threads have been archived.

Ah that changes things a little.

[TSnerd]

How on earth do you get scammers to make super-hero costumes and take pictures of themselves?

Hi. I am a moderator on Eater. The pictures are real. They were gathered by a former Mod.

To answer the question - by using the same tool that is used by the scammers: manipulation.

Victims of Advance Fee Fraud are made to jump through hoops, always with the promise that the prize will be given to them at the end of those hoops. There are couriers to pay, fees to pay, taxes to pay, storage fees to pay, etc and etc and etc...

Baiting is the same. A good bait makes the scammer jump through similar hoops. Delay, confuse, promise.

We all know that a trunk box worth millions is nonsense. Some don't.

We all know that you can't win a lottery if you don't enter. Some don't.

Some seek companionship and need to pay fees to be with that special person.

Some don't know that the person who is offering to buy whatever you are selling but overpaying with a check and just wants the difference back is committing fraud until the check/moneyorder is returned and that person is stuck with the NSF charges.

I don't trophy bait, and never have. I have warned hundreds of victims that they were being scammed, and have 'straight baited' for years.

Eater really is set up so that someone who takes the time to Google after he or she gets that email might tumble on to the fact that they are the target of fraud.

We waste the scammer's time. Potential victims come in and are often referred to scamwarners.com

We delete nonsense, photochops or racist crud.

I'm not seeking to make an argument with any of you. I just want to set things straight.

Thank you for your time.

[Mr Tambourine Man]

I can personal vouch for these for scambaits being genuine.
http://www.scamorama.com/prolite_agnes_jackson.html
And the fact that there are scammers like " Harry Pork" walking the Earth is pretty good proof that God doesn't exist.