by Wayne » Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:12 pm
THIS IS SOMETHING I PUT TOGETHER FOR BSIDES CYMRU LAST YEAR. IT'S ONLY AN EARLY DRAFT, BUT IT'LL GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT I SPOKE ABOUT AND HOPEFULLY OFFER UP SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER BAITER.
Hello, and thank you for this opportunity to talk to you today. My name is Wayne May and for the past 16 years I've been a part of the antiscam community, both as a baiter and as the owner of ScamSurvivors.com, which was set up to help protect and educate people about fraud.
I'm going to talk about baiting today. I only have 10 minutes, so this isn't going to be a howto, just a quick "10 points to be aware of". If you want to talk in more depth about baiting later on, feel free to come find me. I'm always more than happy to chat.
The first few will cover the more serious aspects of what we do, but I promise you it does get lighter.
1. First up, BAIT SAFE.
If you're going to bait, it's essential you start with a clean slate. Don't use any of your real life details. Don't reply to any emails you received in your inbox, no matter how tempting it is. Instead make a new persona with a brand new email account and bait from that. It's always better to "belt and braces" when it comes to dealing with scammers. Remember that you're going to be seen as stealing from the scammers in their eyes, and sooner rather than later you're going to piss one off enough that he'll start throwing threats at you, even death threats. My team and I have received dozens of death threats over the years, and even had scammers try to shut the site down. If you've baited safe then you can treat those death threats as badges of honour. And trust me, we do!
2. Next up, BAIT ETHICALLY AND FOR THE RIGHT REASONS.
Not everyone is cut out to be a baiter. First up, racists. Unfortunately there are people who will start baiting because the scammers tend to come from foreign countries. Any self respecting site will kick them out the moment they make their motives known.
People who were scammed can make the best baiters given the right help, but if they're not over their own scammer yet then they can make the absolute worst ones. They risk seeing their own scammer behind every scam, or even being sucked into another scam. Becoming a baiter can do more good than harm in these cases.
Now, if you do decide to bait then remember that you have a responsibility to inspire others. That's why - and not everyone is going to agree with me on this one - I never cash bait, hack a scammer or send a virus to a scammer. Cash baiting has been frowned upon for a long time now, but people still do it. It's not the scammer's money you're getting, it's one of his victim's. All you've done is caused someone else to lose even more money.
When it comes to hacking or sending a virus, firstly, two wrongs do not make a right. Secondly, others are going to copy you and they may be a lot more cavalier in their attitude. I can tell you from personal experience that I've received a virus in my inbox from a victim after they got it from a scammer.
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