会合,会う the scambaiters (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域ing fraudsters at their own game... by wasting THEIR time and money
- Scambaiters try to waste as much of 犯罪のs' time and money as possible
- Here two scambaiters open up to This is Money about the tricks of the 貿易(する)??
In a car park somewhere on the rugged Cornish coast, a Ghanaian scammer stands shivering and 混乱させるd. He has been sent here to collect the 支払い(額) for 10kg of 非,不,無-existent gold 約束d to the 犠牲者 of one of his scams.?
The fraudster is 推定する/予想するing to get £234,000 in cash. It's a 大規模な sum, by far outweighing the costs of the 6,000 mile 一連の会議、交渉/完成する trip from the Ghanaian 資本/首都, Accra.
The problem is that he has been waiting for longer than he'd like, and there is still no 調印する of the money. In fact, his 犠牲者 hasn't even shown up.
Hidden in a car nearby, a man congratulates himself on a 職業 井戸/弁護士席 done: another scammer taken on a いわゆる 'safari', and with photos to 証明する it.
In the 影をつくる/尾行するs: H idden in his car, one scambaiter 逮捕(する)s the 証拠 of his 'safari'
'That was 広大な/多数の/重要な fun…that cost them a few thousand dollars to organise,' the 操る told This is Money.
The man in question is a scambaiter, someone who manipulates fraudsters into wasting their time or money.
The scambaiting community is understandably 隠しだてする, and one of its most famous members will only speak to This is Money using the 偽名,通称 of Mr Pricky.?
Mr Pricky runs a YouTube channel, ScamBait Central, on which he 株 ビデオs of his 試みる/企てるs to take scammers for a ride.
'We're not really caped 改革運動家s,' Mr Pricky 主張するs, 'We dislike scammers, we loathe them and we loathe what they do to ordinary people in society.
'I can't say that we do it 純粋に to do good. We do it because we have a lot of fun. It can be very 満足させるing.'
によれば the scambaiter, they do their best to 占領する as much of a scammer's time as possible: 'It could be days. It could be weeks, months, even years. Some scambaiters have had scammers on the hook for five, even as much as 10 years,' he said.
'It can be やめる cathartic, but also it helps to keep them away from real 見込みのある 犠牲者s,' he 追加するd.
However, the 商売/仕事 of scambaiting is not just about having a laugh, and the consequences of 存在 careless could be serious.
'The 犯罪のs we bait can be very dangerous and violent, and some of them are murderous, he said. 'I get death 脅しs often, and some of them I take 本気で.'
Wild goose chase: Mr Pricky led this scammer 3,000 miles from his home in Ghana
Because of this, he doesn't talk about his scambaiting, even to friends or family.
'Very few people 現実に know about it, but I'm a very 私的な person, because I was with the with the 省 of Defence for over 20 years, and I've been a Samaritan for 34 years,' he said.?
'So confidentiality and keeping my mouth shut has been the cornerstone of most of my adult life.'
The only one wh o does know? 'My accountant', (機の)カム the reply.
On 最高の,を越す of 存在 careful, Mr Pricky says that his scambaiter community follows a strict 始める,決める of 指導基準s.
His community 支配するs 含む that scambaiters should not '燃やす' the scammers by giving away that they are 存在 duped. They should also never 伴う/関わる innocent third parties.
The scambaiter 追加するd: 'We discovered very 早期に on in our community, which was formed in 2003, that [燃やすing them] educated scammers, and they learned from the mistakes that we were gleefully pointing out.'
'They became better scammers and more likely to 略奪する your grandparents blind the next time 一連の会議、交渉/完成する.'
His group also 避ける taking scammers' money, never send any them copies of IDs and never 報告(する)/憶測 their email 演説(する)/住所s.
'The scammer will open a new email account within three minutes and start scamming again,' he said, 'but because they're using a new 演説(する)/住所, the 演説(する)/住所 that they were using before that we've 地位,任命するd on a scam 警告 場所/位置 is now redundant.'
In 害(を与える)'s way: Mr Pricky 誘惑するd a scammer (pictured 権利) from London to Cornwall on his 最新の of more than eighty 'safaris'
Another scambaiter, SkeletonSyskey, is (疑いを)晴らす on what 運動s him.
'My 動機づけ was to find who these people are and see what I can do to stop them,' he told This is Money.
'I want to do this, I've got to do this as much as I can,' he said, 'I have more 運動 for this than I do for my actual work.
'I do put in many hours each week, in a way it is more than a 職業. In the past when I have had 職業s, I've been the 肉親,親類d of person to do 9 to 5, get paid and then I just separate myself from my work when I get home. I don't tend to talk shop.
'With this it is different.'
When he first started, SkeletonSyskey was 事実上の/代理 as a carer for his father, who has Alzheimer's, so he 設立する that he had 解放する/自由な time to 焦点(を合わせる) on scambaiting.
'Since then, the channel has become やめる a bit bigger, and I've 設立する that I now have to dedicate a lot of time to this,' he said.
'My father is now in a care home and 存在 looked after, 解放する/自由なing up more time to do this, but I also have to do my normal 職業.'
The scambaiter has more than 15,000 加入者s on YouTube.
SkeletonSyskey began by 報告(する)/憶測ing the scammers he 暴露するd to 活動/戦闘 詐欺, finding the 指名する of the company that was trying to scam him.
'My 計画(する) at the start was to find out who thes e companies were and 報告(する)/憶測 them,' he said. 'In the beginning I would 報告(する)/憶測 them straight away to 活動/戦闘 詐欺.'
Dogged 追跡: SkeletonSyskey 保護するs his 身元 in his online ビデオs, instead appearing? as an animated Shiba Inu dog?
'I 供給するd the phone call as 証拠, but I heard nothing 支援する from 活動/戦闘 詐欺. A few years later another scambaiter ended up doing a ビデオ on the exact same company, and I realised that company was still active.'
The 欠如(する) of 活動/戦闘 by the 当局 was 失望させるing, he said. 'I 設立する that it is better to speak to other scambaiters to get more (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状) on them and then try to get them shut 負かす/撃墜する,' he 追加するd.
They may not consider themselves caped 改革運動家s, but there is something superhero-esque about scambaiters' 二塁打 lives - perhaps their hidden 身元s and their altruistic 願望(する) to help others by distracting scammers.
But 存在 a scambaiter also comes at a price, as it 要求するs individuals to hide their real 詳細(に述べる)s at all costs.
Unsurprisingly, SkeletonSyskey's 偉業/利用するs go unnoticed by those around him, hidden behind his 数字表示式の likeness in the form of a Shiba Inu dog.
'It's a 罰金 balance,' he said, 'I have learned to separate what I do here on YouTube to what I am up to in real life.
'Only my brother knows, to be honest. The only 推論する/理由 he knows is that he walked in once while I was speaking to scammers on the phone.
'It doesn't feel like I'm hiding it, but I don't talk about it with friends and family, there are always other things to talk about. I'm always busy living a normal life.'
'There are people in scambaiting I've known for over a 10年間, and I don't even know their first 指名する,' Mr Pricky told me. 'I don't know what they do for a living. I don't know about their familial backgrounds.
'We are very 隠しだてする.'