I've been baiting these folks lately. They try to swindle thousands from unsuspecting nice people so I hate them with a passion. It occurred to me that I could get them to send me $5 or so, to cover gas or parcel postage or something. A low amount wouldn't really make them suspicious. Judging by pics on encyclopedia dramatica, it looks like they would willing to do anything if it means lots of money.

Is this illegal though? Scamming scammers?

Taking justice into your own hands is always illegal. If everybody did that, there would be no point in having laws. That's why the law prohibits it.

Do it.

You will never get into trouble.

I'm not a vigilante. Also, these people are out of our jurisdiction, which is why they never get in trouble when someone realizes they've been scammed.

I think I answered my own question.

I'm going to reply under the assumption that it IS illegal, but them reporting you would be akin to a cocaine dealer reporting a botched deal/robbery.

You might find this useful.

www.419eater.com

I'd say, it's most likely illegal, but as long as you don't live in Nigeria, I can't really see how that would be a problem, as it's very unlikely that whatever country you live in would extradite you for a few bucks.
Besides, scammers aren't exactly the kind of people who'd send the law-dogs on you if you scammed them.
A couple of the guys at 419eater have had success, to the amount of a couple of hundred dollars, if memory serves.

Rob those fuckers blind if you get the chance!

Good luck.



PS, don't forget to call them "mugu", apparently that's the term they use to refer to their victims, and translates to "idiot"...

www.419eater.com is a great site. I couldn't find anything on there about this though. I've got 5 baits going on right now. If I get anything I'll make a post about it. I'll also donate it.

^^Yup, make sure to let us know how it goes.

Why settle for $5? I imagine it'd be easy to get a couple hundred from them if there's a payload of thousands for them. You'd just need to spend more time convincing them.

It's perfectly legal.

Wasting someone's time is not a crime. If you tracked them down and beat them up, then yes, you would be doing something illegal, but baiting in itself is a public service, not a crime.

Wasting time is not the same as fraud. Fraud is a crime.

It is illegal but even if you were caught taking 5s and 10s from these people I think they would go easy on you.