Dominic Utton: How to scam a scammer |From the Guardian |The Guardian - 0 views
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Jianwei Tan on 19 Aug 09Summary: Some people may have heard of the Nigerian 419 scams that were very infamous quite a few years back. These scammers who supposedly operated out of Nigeria created elaborate stories and solicited for help through e-mails. Although the initial intention of the e-mail is to ask for help, subsequent correspondences usually result in the scammer requesting for monetary aid through wire transfer. This person, Mike, has taken it upon himself to declare war on these scammers, baiting them to believe that he would send money to them but in actual fact plays pranks on them. The pranks played range from telling silly stories and wasting the scammer's time to persuading the scammer to get tattooed in order to get the money. Question: Scams are, without a doubt, unethical and probably criminal activities. However, is the act of scamming a would-be scammer an ethical thing to do? Problem: Let's imagine a situation where the scammer and the scambaiter (the person scamming the scammer) are from the same country or even the same state, thus both parties would be subject to the same laws. If the scammer were to try and launch a scam and instead was scambaited into severe consequences (I think getting tattoed is quite severe), should the scambaiter be prosecuted by the legal system?