The website is spa.mnesty.com and it’s about wasting the time of the scammers and spammers.

This is how they describe their ‘time-wasting’ service.

Spamnesty is a way to waste spammers’ time. If you get a spam email, simply forward it to [email protected], and Spamnesty will strip your email address, pretend it’s a real person and reply to the email. Just remember to strip out any personal information from the body of the email, as it will be used so the reply looks more legitimate.

That way, the spammer will start talking to a bot, and hopefully waste some time there instead of spending it on a real victim. Meanwhile, Spamnesty will send you an email with a link to the conversation, so you can watch it unfold live!

It interacts with the spammer by sending fairly open anodyne responses to each message until the spammer gets bored and gives up. The replies are generic e.g. I’ve talked with my colleagues and we are definitely interested. Can you tell me more’.

Or ‘ That’s impressive. I’m excited to hear more’ Can you provide references?’

And so on.

It doesn’t stop spammers but does occupy them fruitlessly.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

Mac loves to bait those evil scammers – playing them at their own game. You can read about Mac’s exploits at http://macsbaitstore.com/tips.html

Here are his tips:-

• Make a fake persona for yourself before you start scam baiting (name, address, phone, etc.) – this will prevent you from making mistakes that will give you away later to the scammer.
• Use a free email account for your scambaiting – Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Live.com, etc.
• Don’t give scammer any real information – for obvious reasons…
• Consider using a Virtual private Network to disguise your IP address. If you have a floating IP address from your broadband supplier then this is not an issue as floating IP addresses only resolve back to your supplier – not to you
• Do not give them your home phone number – try a service such as k7.net for messages or a mobile – I use a number that always rings, then make some excuse why I never answer (at work, store, etc.).
• You can set-up a “catcher” account to receive scam emails, and a “baiter” account to carry on the bait. This is sound advice, but not always necessary – you can actually copy a scam email you find on the web or bulletin board and paste it to a new email to “reply” to a scammer. They send out so many emails, they will never know that they never actually sent an email to you.
• Scambait with your eyes wide open – remember, these are criminals you are dealing with and everything that comes from their mouth is most likely a lie. In the course of the scambait, you will be sworn out, insulted and even threatened.

Treat the Scammers the Mac Way

• Make their lives difficult! Remember, they will have certain documents already prepared, so ask for other documents as proof. They will send you a “Certificate of Deposit” for a bank account – ask for a current Account Statement instead. Explain that a Certificate of Deposit only shows what was deposited in the account years ago, but not what is in the account now. They will waste valuable computer time making a fake document…
• If they send you a Passport ID, ask for a Driver’s License and vice versa. Notice that the picture on both is usually the same…
• Ask many stupid questions and make sure they answer every question you have. They will try to stick to their script – get them off it.
• Poke holes in all of their ideas, theories, and routines. The typical scammer knows nothing about business or banking, so correct them, question them, suggest other methods, etc.
• Question every spelling error – even if you do understand what they meant. This will also waste their valuable time.
• Point out all of their mistakes in documents – scammers don’t bother about details so pick them out and demand explanations.
• Scammers are constantly getting their free email accounts shut down. Don’t let them get away with this without a fight! I like to tell them ‘that I contacted Yahoo when the mail came back undelivered, and Yahoo said the account was shut down for fraudulent activities’ – make them explain that one!
• When a bait starts to peter out or if you haven’t heard from the scammer in a while – send them a message ‘that you sent the money via MoneyGram, did you get it yet’. Nothing revives a dead bait like the promise of money!
• Never, ever let them get in the last word! Remember, one of the main goals is to keep them busy – if they keep replying to your insults, they are not scamming someone else!

For more information, have a look at http://macsbaitstore.com/tips.html

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.