I don’t have an example because I deleted it, but has anyone else gotten the radom pulp story scam email? You open it up and there’s a paragraph lead in that sounds like a film noir. Then it ends abruptly. No ill effects noticed yet, if bug filled.
Also, if the money orders are so problematic, how am I going to pay for stuff on ebay? Personal check is no good. Cash is out. Not everyone is set for PayPal. Suggestions?
Sure a MO could be a forgery. A check could be bad. Someone’s CC could be fake. BUT EVEN CASH CAN BE COUNTERFIET.
As long as you get a MO from a known company, and it looks decent, it should be fine. Actually, if the buyers rating is good, even a Personal check is usually OK.
Some sellers refuse sales from newbies unless it’s Paypal, and some refuse sales from “overseas” countries. I’d probably wouldn’t sell to the 3rd World myself.
Most baits can be characterized as extensions of pranking: they waste the scammers time.
419Eater.com no longer supports cash extraction (and, as it happens, when the webmaster did, he would contribute the money to charity, FWIW). As a rule, thescambaiter.com is more willing to venture into ethically grey areas.
I’m not sure it’s that grey though: I would characterize it as nonviolent vigilantism. The very best baits involve law enforcement. But where the rule of law is absent (and I mean absent and not merely “insufficient” in somebody’s opinion), I believe that nonviolent turnaround becomes fair play.
419eater provides a missive on The Ethics of Scambaiting, which I have not read in a while.