The Art of Scambaiting
How YouTubers are Making a Fortune Scambaiting and How You Can Too
What is Scambaiting?
Scambaiting is a form of internet vigilantism designed to waste a scammers time and energy, thereby consuming their resources in order to prevent them from exploiting a genuine victim. Most typically senior citizens.
How Does Scambaiting Work?
Scambaiting works by playing along with the scammer, pretending to be an uninformed victim, and playing along with the scenario as long as the scammer is willing to stay on the line.
What Kinds of Scams work for Scambaiting?
Almost any scam can be baited, some even using keyloggers, so even the laziest e-mail scammer offering 40 bars of gold in exhange for the $ 199 transfer fee can be baited.
However, there are some scams more conducive to the art, here are a few scams that can easily be baited for fun, profit or to cure quarantine boredom.
- The Refund Scammer.
- The IRS Scammer.
- The Credit Card Scammer.
- The Tech Support Scammer.
How do These Scams Work? Greed and Fear.
The Refund Scammer (greed): The scammer convinces you that you are owed money for a warranty that came with your computer. They will then ask attempt to log into your computer remotely and will “accidentally” over deposit much more than what you were“entitled” to. In summary, they will ask you to send them the difference between what was owed and what was “deposited”.
The IRS Scammer (fear): The caller informs you that they’ve found a serious error in your tax filings involving financial turpitude or a complete lack of responsibility. They will then give you one very limited opportunity to work with them before the sheriff comes and takes you to the court house. If you do decide to work with them, they will negotiate a price for your freedom and you will purchase it in the form of Google Play cards from your local Walmart.
The Credit Card Scammer (greed):
Good news! You’ve won a $100 shopping reward voucher, or a trip to wherever, or a lower interest rate. This scam is very versatile and is one of the more professional scams of the bunch.
The robo caller typically contacts you first and it sounds just like you would expect from a credit card company. Press one for English and 2 for Spanish and 0 to speak to a live operator.
The end result however is that you give away all your credit card information and spend a lot time cancelling your cards and explaining to your bank why your not responsible for the charges.
The Tech Support Scammer (fear): While browsing the web a popup informs you that your system is infected and you need to call the 1–800 number to get immediate tech support.
Once you call the “technician” will attempt to log into your system where they will find a plethora of viruses, several botnets and evidence of your computer being accessed for purposes of cyber crime.
Once logged in they will “demonstrate” all their findings and attempt to prepare a syskey just in case you decide not to pay them for their hard work. They will typically offer a one time fee deal or a subscription to their “service” for a deep discount.
NOTE: Tech support scammers have credit card processors to take your subscription based payments as they operate under the color of legitimacy with reviews, 1800 numbers and very professional websites.
How Scambaiters are Making Money
People love watching scambaiting videos. Not only that, these are long videos making their monetization that much easier. While an average YouTube video with a million views will generate an after-split payout of about $1k, there is a huge audience and a lot of money involved.
The screenshot below shows popular YouTuber Kitboga’s most recent uploads and video views.
The screenshot below shows YouTuber Kitboga’s channel metrics and estimated earnings. Not bad for a channel that’s less than 3 years old.
Another popular YouTuber known as Trilogy Media took a different approach by starting a GoFundMe that raised over $6K for an apologetic scammer and even enlisted him to go undercover in a heartfelt series of videos. (below)
YouTuber Jim Brownings takes it to a whole new level by hacking into a scammer’s call center and completely destroying their business from within. Resulting in several videos that collectively reached over 10 million views. (below)
And then there is YouTuber IRLrosie who uses her voice acting skills to fool scammers into all types of shenanigans.
Scambaiting is Big Business:
A Video’s monetization gets better with age as many of these YouTuber’s older videos regularly exceed one million views. YouTuber Kitboga enjoys a million views just about every 3 days.
Do you Have What it Takes?
Nerves of steel, patience, a decent camera and consistency are just a few of the things you’re going to need. An understanding of video SEO, analytics and good editing is what separates the winners from the losers on YouTube with production values rising daily. There are also a few tools that will help along the way.
The Scambaiters Tool Kit:
In addition to steel nerves there are some tools of the trade you’ll want to explore prior to participating in online vigilantism.
Basic Scam Baiting Tools:
- TeamViewer (free)
- Virtual Desktop (free)
- Screen recorder (free)
- Video Camera
TeamViewer: This free (non-commercial use) application allows two or more computers to connect to each other. It is the preferred method for scammers to access your computer and attempt to manipulate your system.
Learn more about TeamViewer.
Virtual Desktop: When a scammer accesses your computer remotely via Teamviewer it is important that they are not able to do any damage to your PC. For this we use a virtual desktop such as vmware which is like a sandbox. Learn more about VMware.
Screen Recorder: Basic screen recorders are all you need to capture video of the scammer desperately trying to run system processes and lock you out of your own system OBS offers a great screen recorder that’s open source.
Learn more about OBS.
Optional Accessories:
- Phone Spoofer (free)
- Voice changer ($19.99)
Phone Spoofer: A spoofer is used to make your phone appear to be different from what it is. It is used so that your real number doesn’t get blacklisted, as they have their own methods of avoiding scambaiters. One popular free spoofer in the U.S. is FireRTC although they frequently change.
Learn more about FireRTC.
Voice Changer: Scambaiting can get old quick but role playing as different characters can add some spice to the endeavor. MorphVOX is one of a few voice changers that can deliver convincing characters with a bit of practice.
Learn more about MorphVOX.
Advanced Tools:
- Professional Grade Keylogger ($79.99)
- Data Generators & Forms (free)
Professional Grade Keylogger: Keylogging takes scambaiting to the next level by accessing a scammers computer while they are logged into your system. There are many keyloggers to choose from but only one offers multiple installations and allows you to re-use the same installations on other computers. That keylogger is WinSpy, and it allows you to create and deploy your own keyloggers so you wont need to contact a company every time one of your installations is removed.
Once installed you’ll enjoy access to all of the scammers data, webcam, microphone and even FTP and live screen recording. It has a bit of a learning curve, but can be a lot of fun. There is no monthly fee and it never expires.
Learn more about WinSpy.
Data Generators & Forms: To prolong the scambait there are a number of forms that can be used to help prolong the experience. Fake bank transfer forms, blurry drivers licenses, gold import declarations, bank statements, official looking Western Union documents and even “apology” forms. These resources are part of the scambaiters toolkit and are completely free.
Learn more about the Scambaiting Tools.
Additional Resources:
- File Destructor:
Use this to send files that can’t be opened and blame the scammer. - Hide My Ass:
Use this rotating proxy to change your location and IP address. - Ticket -O -Matic:
Generate a fake boarding pass making it appear you’re on the way. - Dialectizer:
Change your dialect from Redneck to Elmer Fudd.
Conclusion:
Americans are losing over $9.5 billion dollars to phone scams, up 60% from 2015 and averaging $430.00 per victim according to MarketWatch. An estimated 1 in 10 Americans have lost money to phone scams and because of that phone based scams wont be going away anytime soon.
While the ethics of scambaiting might be questionable, there can be no doubt that these unsung heroes are doing more to protect victims than any law enforcement agency or online security protocols. Thanks scambaiters, it’s true that not all heroes wear capes.
