| eveline lubbers on Thu, 20 Nov 2003 16:31:04 +0100 (CET) |
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| <nettime> Nigerian email conmen fall into their targets' net |
http://money.guardian.co.uk/scamsandfraud/story/0,13802,1086308,00.html Nigerian email conmen fall into their targets' net Tony Thompson, crime correspondent Sunday November 16, 2003 The Observer It has been described as the internet's first blood sport and is fast becoming one of the web's favourite pastimes. Fed up with having their inboxes clogged with emails from Nigerian fraudsters promising untold riches, the victims are finally hitting back. Scam-baiting - replying to the emails and stringing the con artists along with a view to humiliating them as much as possible - is becoming increasingly popular with more than 150 websites chronicling the often hilarious results. (...) The ultimate aim of many anti-scammers is to turn the tables completely and get the 419 gangs to send them money. One of those who has succeeded is an Australian who baits under the name of J Cosmo Newbury and specialises in creating characters and situations that border on the surreal. After months of correspondence, one of his characters even received a marriage proposal. (...) Newbury has now published some of his favourite exchanges in the form of a book, Dancing with Thieves. It includes letters where he poses as a terrorist by the name of Princess Tikka Masala, a Chinese restaurateur called Hu Flung Dung and a retired mariner by the name of John Silver. ------------------------------------------ Mobiel: 06 479 669 05 Mobile: ++ 31 6 479 669 05 http://www.evel.nl Postbus 15059 1001 MB Amsterdam # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]