Journal article: Towards a categorization of scambaiting strategies

Title: Towards a categorization of scambaiting strategies
Author(s): Andreas Zingerle
Email: andreas.zingerle (at) ufg.ac.at

Published at: International Journal of Art, Communication and Design Technologies

The mission of the International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies (IJACDT) is to promote an interdisciplinary research approach to understand cutting-edge theories and practices arising from the influence of technological innovation on creativity. IJACDT bridges the knowledge communication gap across humanities, scientific, and technical disciplines. IJACDT is at the epicenter of technological-scientific-artistic research and provides a common platform for information exchange between academia and industry, between scholarship and professionalism, between theory, criticism, and practice.

Abstract:

Scambaiters are individuals in online information communities specializing in identifying, documenting and reporting actions of so-called ’419 scammers’. A qualitative research approach was applied to two active scambaiting communities – 419eater.com and thescambaiter.com. Content analysis of several discussions and the examination of interviews from the web radio ’Area 419: Scambaiting Radio’ resulted in the seven categories of scambaiting techniques that are presented in this article. The aim is to both give a wider understanding of the scope of existing Internet scams as well as answering questions of why and how individuals or communities of scambaiters take action against Internet scammers. The analysis on various scambaiting practices is intended as a base for future discussions, for instance, whether some scambaiting methods should be implemented in media competence training.

Keywords:

Unsolicited electronic mail, Scambaiting, Computer mediated communication, Interactive storytelling.

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