It’s not just sex that needs to be done safely.

I’ve just read an article on someone playing with romance scammers, and feel the need to point some things out.  It’s safe to say I know a thing or two on the subject, having baited my first romance scammer back in 2006.  Back then it was a different beast, as almost no one was dealing with romance scammers, so we had to learn as we went along.  We made mistakes, but learned from them and became better and safer baiters for it.  The one big thing we learned was never to use our own identity to bait scammers.  Everything from our date of birth to our pet’s name would be made up.  Locations were fictitious and photos would be taken from mug shots and the like.  Even when I do interviews, I use a fake name even if I have to show my actual face.

Now imagine my surprise when I read a story today that had someone using their real details to bait scammers.  Name, photos and location.  Seriously?  This is stuff we realised a dozen years ago was a bad idea, yet people still do it and the media praise them for doing so.  Me, I’m sticking to keeping everything fake and keeping myself safe thank you very much.