How to Anger a Scammer in 2 Emails

[ICollectBoats]

Edited to change Rock's text color. Please reserve green text for mods. TIA - bware419ers

To set the stage, we have Tony Obosi (the scammer), Wanda Grunt (the sweet old lady), and Rock Grunt (Wanda's military veteran husband).

This story starts with an email in Wanda's inbox:

BELOVED Wanda Grunt of USA
RELIABLE SOURCE IN UNITED STATES NAMED JAMES SHUFORD OF SOUTH CAROLINA SAYS YOU DIED OF CORONAVIRUS .
I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU REALLY DIED OF CORONAVIRUS.
PLEASE RESPOND TO ME TO KNOW IF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE AND NEVER DIE OF CORONAVIRUS.
IF I DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU, I WILL BELIEVED JAMES SHUFORD THAT YOU DIED OF CORONAVIRUS AND CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA WILL BE DONATE YOUR LONG-AWAITED FUND TO A CHARITY HOME
TONY OBOSI

Wanda responds:

Dear Mr. Obosi,

Can you please put me in contact with Mr. Shuford? I want to ask him directly why he's claiming that I'm dead.

Kind regards,
Wanda

Tony responds with a templated response (a Central Bank of Nigeria money transfer form was attached):

BELOVED Wanda Grunt
THANK GOD YOU ARE ALIVE.
YOU FORSAKE YOUR LONG AWAITED FUND FOR SUCH A LONG TIME THAT WAS WHY, JAMES SHUFORD OF UNITED STATES WROTE YOU ARE DEAD.
UNITED STATES FBI IS INVESTIGATING JAMES SHUFORD TO HAVE HIM ARRESTED FOR FALSE INFORMATION AGAINST YOU.
Please let me know how you want your long awaited fund to be paid to you.and fill the central bank form

TONY OBOSI

Wanda, not wanting Mr. Shuford to be arrested without hearing his side of the story (she's a sweetheart) responds:

Dear Mr. Obosi,

I asked you to put me in contact with Mr. Shuford. I didn't want you to arrest him right away. Maybe he had a good reason to tell you that I'm dead. Please give me his email address so I can sort this out.

Kind regards,
Wanda

Tony, for some reason, took grave offense to this:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

While Wanda is a sweetheart, she's no pushover, and she will not hesitate to call people out if they're being rude:

Mr. Obosi,

I believe that you are being very rude!

I demand that you either apologize or have someone nicer handle this whole Mr. Shuford situation. I'm 79 years old. You should respect your elders!

Shame on you!
Wanda

Tony, instead of realizing his mistake and apologizing, decides to take a more hypocritical route:

Wanda
You do not respect yourself.
I do not believed you when you said you are 79 years because you do not behave like an elder.
Shame on you
Tony

Wanda, as usual, responded tastefully and maturely:

Mr. Obosi,

You're the one who started this by shouting at me for asking a simple question. In my opinion, lobbing insults at an old lady (who was very respectful beforehand) is very immature and rude! What are you? A small boy?

Wanda

Tony then deals a very low blow, then pretends to take the high road:

WANDA
I DO NOT THINK YOU MAKE A GOOD WIFE TO YOUR HUSBAND,
YOU ARE AGGRESSIVE
CHANGE FOR GOOD SO THAT YOU MAKE HEAVEN
TONY

This broke Wanda and made her cry and tell her husband about the whole ordeal. Enter Rock (he's a fan of shouty-caps):

TONY OBOSI,

MY WIFE TOLD ME THAT YOU SAID TERRIBLE THINGS TO HER AFTER SHE ASKED YOU AN INNOCENT QUESTION! AND WHEN SHE CALLED YOU ON IT, YOU JUST DOUBLED DOWN AND SAID EVEN WORSE THINGS!

IT TAKES A LOT TO MAKE ME MAD, BUT WHEN SOMEONE GOES AFTER MY SWEET LITTLE MAGIC WANDA, THAT'S WHEN I GO BALLISTIC!

WHAT'VE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, YOU LITTLE WEASEL?

ROCK

Wanda, who was copied in Rock's email, cheered on her husband:

You tell him, Rock!

Apparently, this is what Tony had to say for himself:

You and your wife are trouble makers

For Rock, this was like a slap in the face:

REALLY, TONY? THAT'S ALL YOU'VE GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF AFTER YOU MADE MY SWEET, INNOCENT, CARING WIFE CRY (WHICH YOU STARTED BY YELLING AT HER) ALL BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SEE A MAN GET ARRESTED WITHOUT HEARING HIS SIDE OF THE STORY?

YOU DISGUST ME!

ROCK

Tony clapped back with another low blow:

Your wife is a disgrace to you

Rock had a similarly low rebuttal:

WELL, YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO YOUR COUNTRY AND FAMILY! I'VE BEEN TO NIGERIA, BEFORE, AND MEAN, VICIOUS PEOPLE LIKE YOU GIVE THAT COUNTRY A BAD NAME!

ROCK

And now we're caught up to the present. If Tony responds, I'll post it in the replies.

[ICollectBoats]

Tony decided to take the hypocritical route, again:

Mugu

Rock decided to send back an equally tasteful response:

WEASEL

[Kitty La Gore]

You did indeed make him angry, and I ask this with kindness: was that your intent? It makes for interesting emails, but I'm not sure this disrupts the lad's work so much as wastes a bit of his time. It may be more fun to grab a few of his bank accounts first, then he will be angry about the lost funding AND his time will be wasted.

Whenever a lad throws a pidgin or other language term at me, I explain I do not speak that language and would prefer he use English as the Lord intended. Otherwise he may catch on that I'm a baiter, and I would never, EVER want to "burn" a lad. (See list of terms here)

For each bait, I always ask myself what I've learned and what I might do differently next time. I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts on this exchange! What did you set out to accomplish, and did that happen? What did you learn from the bait?

[ICollectBoats]

[No need to quote the above - KLG]

Hi!

Honestly, it actually wasn't my initial intent to anger him. Usually, when I call a scammer on being rude, they often apologize and try to continue the scam. Unfortunately, this one was a bit more arrogant and mean-spirited. Also, thanks for the tip regarding the pidgin. I was actually debating having Rock respond to Tony in Yoruba or Igbo (as he picked up those languages when he was stationed in Nigeria), but now that I know that it could "burn" the lad, I think I'll do what you suggested in the future.

[Kitty La Gore]

I think you're right - this lad is impatient and wanting to get to the goods right away. I suspect he saw the "couple" as a potential downfall - they might share notes, or one might tell the other they have a weird feeling about it. I have better luck when I introduce a second character later in the bait, especially if the second character wants to take advantage of the first. I've found if I start off compliant and slowly become obstinate it works really well, and my goal is always to grab a bank account.

Have you considered re-baiting the lad from another email address? That can often give you even more insight into what works or doesn't, and if this lad is efficient (able to spot trouble & move on quickly), he might have a lot of people sending him money. Might be worth trying again fresh to see what you can get out of him!

[ICollectBoats]

Hi!

I may consider doing that, as I do have a baiting address that isn't related to the Grunt family. Breaking the guy's piggy banks or using up his mobile data by sending him 10MB unopenable files instead of gift cards would be appropriate revenge for how he treated the Grunts. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Kitty La Gore]

Looking forward to Round Two

[Myon359]

I happened to get the same scammer with my Japanese character Kurena. I messaged him in reply to his format:

Dear Mr. Obosi:

Am so sorry for reply to you mail late. I just find it in my spam email now. I not hear of any one name Shuford and am verry much not die of coronavirus. Please to send me more infomation on this ASAP.

Kurena

BELOVED Kurena
THANK GOD YOU ARE ALIVE.
YOU FORSAKE YOUR LONG AWAITED FUND FOR SUCH A LONG TIME THAT WAS WHY, JAMES SHUFORD OF UNITED STATES WROTE YOU ARE DEAD.
UNITED STATES FBI IS INVESTIGATING JAMES SHUFORD TO HAVE HIM ARRESTED FOR FALSE INFORMATION AGAINST YOU.
Please let me know how you want your long awaited fund to be paid to you.

TONY

I immediately went and threw a monkey wrench in:

Dear sir:

Am so glad he is be arrest. I never hear about him before. Now please, best idea is to me to visit you office or bank in person sometime during Friday or the weekend. Is that feasible for you?

Kurena

That was 22nd April. No reply until 25th of April when I messaged again. I think he's a mildly smart lad and realised I might not be an optimal client due to my odd style of talking.

25th April:

Hello, is there any news sir?

Kurena

Tony:

What do you want now

I need the fund you was inform me of and information of the Shuford sir.

Kurena

You need to pay $50 as activation fee if you really want your fund paid to you by mode of payment

Okay, thank muchness for inform me about it sir. How I go about pay?

Kurena

You pay by Bitcoin wallet address

I not has bitcoin wallet. Is there other address?

(At this point we're just exchanging emails every five minutes)

I don't understand what you mean

I do not own a bitcoin wallet. Is there other way of pay off the bill to get the fund that does not involve the bitcoin?

Are you sending the $50 now

Once I has a way to send yes I will

Can you by western union?

Of course can pay by Western Union. Please tgo send me the detail?

I need you to send me your full details to me to enable me access your fund

Which one?

This by the way was a legitimate question. I had somehow forgotten or missed the memo on what personal information to surrender. Blooper on my end probably, but the lad instantly went crazy:

Why are you refusing to send details to me? Are you afraid? Are you even real?

Kurena, calm as usual:

I has not refuse am just not know what detail to send.

Lad jumps to conclusions like he'd jump on a pile of dollar bills:

So you are not real! You do not know the name of your country and your address to send to me!

Somewhat ticked Kurena replies:

Oh yes I do.
It United States of America and is XXXXXXXXXX Albuquerque NM sir

26th April:

Please send me your direct phone number.
Are you ready to send the $50 now by western union.
Respond now
Tony

The telephone number here it 1 800 LENNY. It is USA line. Yes am ready to wire the money. Please to either call or email me detail soonest so can do it soon as am off work. Thank muchness.

Kurena

No calls to Lenny yet as far as I know, but we got WU details:

Please send the $50 by western union to the receivers name
( Emmanuel N)
First name is ( Emmanuel )
Last name or Surname is ( N <ka-bleep!>)
City is ( Lagos )
Country is ( Nigeria )
The Phone number of ( Emmanuel N <ka-bleep!>) is (+ 234 <ka-bleep!> )
Please make no mistake or error in spelling the name of
( Emmanuel N <ka-bleep!> ) In western union payment receipt of $50.
Make sure you send me the western union payment receipt of the $50 as evidence of payment.
Please confirm the receipt of my email to you.
Kindly respond now
Tony