

Victims lost $9.3 billion to 419 scammers in 2009 - anigbrowl
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/01/victims-lost-93-billion-to-419-scammers-in-2009.ars

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tokenadult
"Considering that 419 scams have been well-known since the 1970s, this trend
is particularly disturbing. However, Ultrascan says scammers are expanding
their operations and shifting their focus to emerging Internet markets, where
there's more fresh meat getting online every day."

Yes, I thought everyone knew about such scams by now, but of course there are
newbies coming online for the first time every day, all over the world.

In advanced countries with advanced email providers, there is already a great
deal of filtering out of 419 messages, but evidently more protection is still
necessary for the gullible.

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marze
Why not respond to the scammers automatically? You could put together a
library of responses, use machine learning techniques to choose a response
based on the spammer's initial email and recent message, and really put a dent
in their productivity.

You could even send out spam messages of your own or resend the spammer's
initial message and harvest the responses to use in the library.

It would be easy for Google and other email providers to do this with their
collection of abandoned email accounts.

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marze
What about spamming copies of real 419 spams, and if anyone responds, send
them a explanation and warning about 419 scams?

