Scam baiting

Scam baiting is a form of Internet vigilantism, where the vigilante poses as a potential victim to the scammer in order to waste their time and resources, gather information that will be of use to authorities, and publicly expose the scammer. It is primarily used to thwart advance-fee fraud and technical support scams and can be done out of a sense of civic duty (activism), as a form of amusement, or both. However, some of this scambaiting can involve racism while there are other forms that document e.g. scammers tools and methods, warn potential victims, provide discussion forums, or take down fake websites.

Methodology

A bait is very simply initiated, by answering a scam email, from a throwaway email account, i.e. one that is only used for baiting and untraceable back to the actual owner. The baiter then pretends to be receptive to the financial hook that the scammer is using.

The objectives of baiting are, in no particular order: