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ScamBaiting - moral or not?


Didacus

Is ScamBaiting a moral practice/  

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One of my firends has taken up the 'hobby' as he calls it, of scambaiting and is inviting to take part.

For those unfamiliar with the term;

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam_baiting"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam_baiting[/url]

The description is surprisingly accurate.

My friend sent me an example of a scammer who was tricked into getting a tattoo of "baited by Shiver"!



Personally, I'm not certain what to think about all this. The scammers are thieves, and thieves deserve to go to jail. But its near impossible to catch these particular thievese. So the scambaiter's argument is what I call the 'Zoro' complex; they try to waste as much of the scammers time so that they do not have enough time to scam people. Its a form of protection and justice.

Sounds good so far? But I see that someone who is scambaiting is humiliating another human being, lying, and tricking someone else. But this someone else is trying to do the same and much worse by trying to steel through the scam so this trickery is well deserved?


Now I'm just confusing myself...

Anyone have any comments?

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cmotherofpirl

Scammers are criminals.
I see nothing wrong with actual sting operations that enable law enforcement to take these people down.
A friend of mine has gotten mad enough to actually hack scammer's systems and disable [i]their [/i]computers. Good woman!!! :D:

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In itself, I can't see a clear cut indication of scambaiting being good or bad. I think it would depend on the intention of the baiter. Are they trying to protect the innocent, or are they trying to get their jollies by outsmarting and humiliating an acceptable target?

Same as with police, prosecutors, lawyers... Or anyone, really.

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[quote name='Aloysius' date='Nov 25 2005, 01:56 PM']it is perfectly fine even if your intent is to just get your jollies out of messing with someone's attempt to mess with you.
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This attitude really doesn't seem Christian to me. Can you imagine Mary, or Jesus, or any saint tormenting someone -- no matter how guilty -- for fun?

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[quote name='philothea' date='Nov 25 2005, 03:32 PM']This attitude really doesn't seem Christian to me.  Can you imagine Mary, or Jesus, or any saint tormenting someone -- no matter how guilty -- for fun?
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i agree.. that sounds more like the job function of a demon than a Saint...

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[quote name='philothea' date='Nov 25 2005, 03:32 PM']This attitude really doesn't seem Christian to me.  Can you imagine Mary, or Jesus, or any saint tormenting someone -- no matter how guilty -- for fun?
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I can imagine him "tormenting" the pharisees and the like. I can see him driving people out of the temple.

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[quote name='Paphnutius' date='Nov 25 2005, 05:34 PM']I can imagine him "tormenting" the pharisees and the like. I can see him driving people out of the temple.
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Yeah...

And I said that I could see ScamBaiting being good with the right motivation. I don't think Jesus did those things to get some jollies, which is what you and Aloysius said.

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[quote name='philothea' date='Nov 25 2005, 06:48 PM']Yeah...

And I said that I could see ScamBaiting being good with the right motivation.  I don't think Jesus did those things to get some jollies, which is what you and Aloysius said.
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[quote]it is perfectly fine [b]even if [/b]your intent is to just get your jollies out of messing with someone's attempt to mess with you.[/quote]

Well he said "even if", which typically means that there are more ordinary and frequent reasons or intentions, but as a minimum this might be acceptable.

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I believe if its all in clean fun, it's fine. Just don't take it too far (making him give you money... making him do something painful).

[url="http://www.419eater.com/"]http://www.419eater.com/[/url]
Funny site but they actually got a person to get a real tattoo... making them lose money/ gain pain and embarresment, although funny, would be close to or right over the line.

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[quote name='Didacus' date='Nov 25 2005, 11:00 AM'] But I see that someone who is scambaiting is humiliating another human being, lying, and tricking someone else.  [right][snapback]800102[/snapback][/right]
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Sometimes humiliation is the only thing that gets through to some people......

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