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Walrusini’s Little Moment of Win

My Dad received a Nigerian Scam email. In response he signed up the provided e-mail address for every web newsletter he could find. IMMD

Submitted by: Walrusini

Incorrect source or offensive?

» 24 High-Fives!

  1. Lugubert says:

    That’s a laudable new one! I’ve read about guys with too much free time stringing the scammers along for quite some time, but this way could be close to automated. I’ll immediately start saving newsletter addresses.

  2. Sarah says:

    I have something to do tonight. :D

  3. Jessica says:

    As great as this idea is, he probably just made someone’s problem a lot, lot worse. In a lot of cases, spam comes from an e-mail address that’s been hacked. So it’s possibly that somebody’s e-mail address got hacked and used to send out spam, and now they have to deal with a million unwanted newsletters on top of trying to recover their e-mail account.

    • Carp says:

      Agreed. It does sound like deserved justice, but all too frequently, the “from” and/or “reply to” e-mail addresses used by spammers are hacked or spoofed.

    • jamisings says:

      Spam might, but scammers tend to use an e-mail address you can actually reply to.

      • Deirdre says:

        Yes–if they’re going to get your money (like the Craigslist scams) they need to keep up the conversation. DAD WIN!

        • Jessica says:

          We recently had a virus go around our campus that was causing people’s e-mail addresses to send out spam asking for money for a sick relative. So it’s not always the case that they use a “real” e-mail address.

  4. Wynona says:

    Tell him to sign it up for Jillian Michaels..I did that about ayear ago…and bitch fills up your email account!

    • KOW says:

      I also recommend EOnline newsletters. Spammy AND they ignore unsubscribe notices (Had to deploy e-mail filters to filter them directly to trash). And I’ve heard that Flylady.com also e-mails you SEVERAL times a day. This IMMD almost makes me wish I had more porous spam filters.

  5. Aline says:

    I’m gonna bookmark that site just so I can put all those scammers on her list.

    Your idea Wynona is an epic ftw.

  6. Teal says:

    agreed this is a genius win!!

  7. Queina says:

    That and put it on sites that you know are going to send the scammer a gazillion pieces of junk mail. Love it!

  8. thestashattacked says:

    Well, to the scammers, you know what they say: If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.

  9. humor me says:

    I hear what’s even better is companies that reduce or try to dispense with your debt. A friend of mine was going through a divorce and her (soon to be) ex signed her up with bill-lowering e-mail companies. She was SWAMPED.

  10. Lainie says:

    Heh. A few months back I decided to string one along just for fun. I eventually gave them full names, address, and phone number. For a pair of lions at the Bronx Zoo. (Don’t worry- I understand that the zoo gets that sort of thing all the time.)

  11. Daisy says:

    I received one today. If you want to help me out:
    rosemarycampbell15(at)mcom(dot)com

    fnx!

  12. Mental Mouse says:

    The site http://419eater.com/ has lots of tips and techniques for scambaiting. (Also some warnings….)

  13. Sinnerstar says:

    E-mail addresses of scammers are usually spoofed, so all this person did was load up some innocent person’s mailbox with spam. Not too bright.

    • Xenon says:

      Read the comments. Spam comes from spoof e-mails. Scam doesn’t or they wouldn’t make any money.

    • Ryan says:

      Also, scammers tend to use temporary email addresses. So a bunch of newsletter sites will probably get 1-2 undeliverables in the near future, which is nothing new to them.

      • Ryan says:

        NOW, I will take the credit card applications in the mail, fill the pre-paid return envelope with the actual envelope from another credit card company…or AARP…

  14. bobobo says:

    WOW, good idea!!! I should try doing that to piss them off and stop emailing me.


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