I'm Currently in Touch with a Nigerian Scammer - What Should I Do? Play with Them? Report Them, but to Who?

Danthemanz on 13/02/2019 - 20:14
Last edited 14/02/2019 - 08:29 by 1 other user

It all started looking at some Macbooks on Facebook Marketplace. There are some deals to be had from time to time, ive also made some sales myself on it.

One was likely too good to be true, i asked where they were. They said WA.
I said i wasnt interested cause it was too dodgy and moved on. Days later they were following up, so many red flags from that alone it wasnt funny.
Ive never engaged with scammers before but maybe i was bored or something, so kept asking questions while stating i didnt really trust them.
They sent me ABN numbers, company names etc (this time in QLD), nothing i could link to "them" as such, i have access to public databases too guys… I did try and warn the company that might have been the ABN they used, but it was an online form and they never got back to me.
Oh one thing i thought was funny, they mentioned i could pay into their "Secure bank account", which i pointed out wasnt a thing.

Anyway, its like two weeks later and i had a thought, why not find out where they really are?
I setup a shortened URL linked to an IP logger and there you go, Nigeria.

I dont know what to do. Instead of telling them to piss off, part of my wants to report them, but to who? Im pretty aware Aus authorities cant do anything overseas etc.
I did use the report scam button in facebook messenger, so its possible their account could disappear, im sure they will be back 5 minutes later though.
Anyway, i was thinking i could ask for the bank account and let the local bank know.
I know it doesnt sound like it, i dont actually have a lot of free time with a child and full time job. If its not something i can do on my phone at 10pm its hard to find the time, being on hold for 2 hours during business hours to different banks and departments is not something my boss would be impressed with…

Another small part of me thinks that the more time of theirs i waste, the less time they have to actually scam people, but we all know it doesnt really work that way.
Perhaps 100 of us should start enquiring for the cheap Macbooks? Kidding…

Anyway, i just thought i put this out there in case anyone has some good ideas. If someone knows of a proper place i can easily report this that will lead to anything, or if someone has any ideas to just screw with them…

Anyone got a question for them?

Internet

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2019 - 20:21
    +3

    Check out www.419eater.com

  • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2019 - 20:46

    It's my understanding that much of the Nigerian scammers operate out of like internet cafes over there.
    On the doco I saw about it, they showed an internet cafe which was basically all (or large majority) scammers.
    There was (and I expect still is) , an effort by the authorities over there to crack down on it, I think they said it was a "gang" of scammers that filled that particular internet cafe.

    Regarding wasting their time and stuffing them around, this would be helping others and the 'greater good' . Make sure they don't have access to any personal phone number or address etc as they may, try to get back at you after they eventually find out you have been stringing them along to waste their time. They might even attempt to flood your email address (if they have that detail) , if they constantly called your phone though, that would be even more annoying..

    If everyone did string them along and stuff them around and waste significant amounts of their time (thinking they've found their sucker) . It would be a disincentive for them to do it. Much like, if everyone stands up to bullies, there would be less bullies, because of the difficulties arising rather than people just laying down and taking it.

  • fantombloo on 13/02/2019 - 21:41

    If it costs you nothing then waste their time for sure.

    Not Nigerian scammers but I always waste telemarketers' time if I don't need to pay attention to something else. I put in the Bluetooth earpiece and just drag them along. Act stupid, pretend I don't hear things and get them to repeat themselves, tell them I need to look for documents or get someone else's permission / opinion, etc. I once strung along a dodgy car accident insurance claim service for days. The best is the end when they get angry at you - like they weren't wasting your time first.

  • Ughhh on 13/02/2019 - 22:24
    +1

    Do what James Veitch did on TED

    https://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_…

  • Ace Ventura on 14/02/2019 - 07:26
    +2

    Back in the day, I was involved with 419eater.
    I spent many hours baiting scammers, keeping them pre-occupied, wasting their time, money and sanity.

    My proudest baiting achievements, having a scammer tattoo himself, convinced him to tattoo a logo with the words "small boi" which is rather insulting in their culture. The same scammer also met with another scammer, both thinking the other was carrying cash from me. From both their reports they ended up in a blue in the street. This scammer ended up travelling the ivory coast chasing non existent money. As 419eater expects, everything was backed up and verified by photos, gps, ip locations etc.
    It was such a fun game.

    I'm aware of all the moral and ethical dilemmas in fooling someone into doing these things, but lets be fair, this piece of work was trying to scam little old ladies out of their retirement pensions.

    • [Deactivated] on 14/02/2019 - 09:10

      Nice work.

      My greatest achievement is keeping a telemarketer on hold for 20 minutes straight and a further 15 minutes afterwards over the span of a 40 minute call.

      • Ace Ventura on 14/02/2019 - 09:55
        +1

        Nice, I do this too, record is a windows scammer kept on the phone for just over an hour. I played dial up modem noises, made excuses, piss farted around, dragged it out as long as possible.
        Then once it came time for him to remote connect to me, I said I couldn't connect because he has viruses, (exactly what he claimed my problem was) then said I could fix his pc if he gave me remote access. He asked how I would fix it, I said I'm a computer technician, it should be easy, he cracked it asking why I don't fix my own problems and wasted his time on the phone before swearing at me and hanging up.

        I'd love to know what they tell their supervisors after having "customers" like us on the phone.

    • dust on 14/02/2019 - 09:23

      Do you have a full write up of this somewhere?

      • Ace Ventura on 14/02/2019 - 09:50

        Not any longer sorry dust, although if you search the forum on 419eater you might find my old threads, my username was huntington.
        I still have all the old photos he sent me though, his tattoo etc, and one from when I talked him into a tin foil hat and pink sandals picture (to prove he wasn't a internet robot). I might be able to drop them into imgur or something if anyone wants a laugh

  • lgacb08 on 17/02/2019 - 11:25

    well, you can waste their time but be mindful that our value of time is a lot higher than theirs, and there are millions of them there, just go to wikipedia and read about the country population and gdp then you can have a vague value of why so many of them scammers actually come from there and the extraordinary length those desparate people do to get the money by whatever mean. There're many instance around the world that you think that if you're in their shoes you'd rather line up at centrelink and fill up bogus job application than getting petty money but reality was it was better than nothing to them, last time I heard (anecdotally) in China there're people making fake rice out of plastic pellet or making fake egg (i.e. sucking the real yold and egg white and putting fake liquid and yellow plastic inside), what the amount of effort and cost to make such scam.
    I sometimes feel sorry for those being born in those unfortunate countries and have to stampede on others for a living but that's one sad reality of this world. Doesn't mean that they should scam the more fortunate people on the other side of the world tho.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2019 - 11:32

    I would do something to waste their time. Say that you are interested in a large number of Macbooks for a a mining project, and if they could arrange a good price. Say 300 Macbooks. When they come back with a made up price, explain that you'd like to proceed, but you need to make a business trip to Nigeria to pick up some gold samples. Get them to 'meet you' in Nigeria to act as guides. Somewhere really out of the way, so they have to make a trip. Go as far as to buy a burner sim, so they can ring you. Really waste their time.

  • N1NJ4W4RR10R on 26/02/2019 - 22:11

    If you have the time, absolutely play along. The time they're spending with you will be time they can't use to screw someone that's unaware it's a scam.

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