I was surfing the web and discovered the following interesting website about "scam baiting".
http://www.419eater.com/
There are some great examples here about how some people reveal the minds of these scammers at work. Some funny, some quite disturbing. A particularly good example is:
http://www.419eater.com/html/ben_okezie.htm
In it, one can observe the transition of a deviant psychology through its various "masks" as it attempts to gain the upper hand in the interaction. It also gives an insight into potential underlying Ponerological networks behind these email scammers - the way that otherwise "petty" criminals might be recruited into the scam networks, given a "script" and set to work harvesting cash from vulnerable people via emotional manipulation.
The low standard of living in some of these countries where the scams are based provide a big carrot for the scammers - even a few hundred US dollars or Euros scammed can mean a big win for them. And it seems that there are international connections set up to facilitate the transfer of cash and no doubt provide a means for the guys at the top to funnel off their majority.
NB: Just tried to look something up on the site and it appears to be down. Perhaps they were hacked or DOS'd? Here's a link to the front page in Google's cache:
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:r_CCVxXKXiUJ:www.419eater.com/+419+eater&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=1
http://www.419eater.com/
There are some great examples here about how some people reveal the minds of these scammers at work. Some funny, some quite disturbing. A particularly good example is:
http://www.419eater.com/html/ben_okezie.htm
In it, one can observe the transition of a deviant psychology through its various "masks" as it attempts to gain the upper hand in the interaction. It also gives an insight into potential underlying Ponerological networks behind these email scammers - the way that otherwise "petty" criminals might be recruited into the scam networks, given a "script" and set to work harvesting cash from vulnerable people via emotional manipulation.
The low standard of living in some of these countries where the scams are based provide a big carrot for the scammers - even a few hundred US dollars or Euros scammed can mean a big win for them. And it seems that there are international connections set up to facilitate the transfer of cash and no doubt provide a means for the guys at the top to funnel off their majority.
NB: Just tried to look something up on the site and it appears to be down. Perhaps they were hacked or DOS'd? Here's a link to the front page in Google's cache:
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:r_CCVxXKXiUJ:www.419eater.com/+419+eater&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=1