While much has been written about the poor souls who turn their funds over to Nigerian spam scammers, little has been reported about the renegade groups, called scam-baiters, who con the con artists into doing everything from traveling 65 miles to collect money that isn't there to carving a Commodore 64 replica out of wood(!). The Atlantic Monthly (password required) has a great article in their current issue that takes a look at scam-baiters and questions whether or not these renegade groups are "Jedi-like cyber-guardians taking up arms against the Web's Dark Side, Spam-scam, or are they cyber-vigilantes engaging in vicious pranks that can, at times, border on racism?"
With my interest peaked piqued, I went to check out the "trophy rooms" the author, Ron Rosenbaum, mentions in his piece. Found on scam-baiter sites like 419eater.com, these "rooms" feature photos taken of scammers holding up childish signs -- similar to Bart Simpson's crank calls to Moe's -- the scammers obviously can't understand.
As Rosenbaum mentioned in his piece, scrolling through the photos in the trophy room is depressing. You think a photo of a con artist getting conned would be funny, but instead you see a group of people so desperate for money they're willing to pose with a loaf of bread balanced on their head or signs that say "Mi Semen Stains". Worst of all are the expressions on their faces. They're completely blank, staring at the camera with so much sadness in their eyes. It's rather heartbreaking.
