Sept 1, 2004

The next time you receive an e-mail offer that sounds too good to be true, don't just delete it. Play the scam-baiter and turn the evidence over to the cops. CHUA HIAN HOU reports

SINCE 1997, the Singapore Police Force have nabbed more than 20 foreign fraudsters who try to cheat people here via Internet scams, particularly through bogus e-mail from Nigeria telling people they would be rich if they helped a disposed leader take money out of his country.

Mr Siow has been diligently forwarding about three such e-mail messages to the police every week for the last one year. The police's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) the investigates such cases.

Said the 50-year-old: "The officer wrote back to thank me for the e-mail messages, and told me that it had aided them in investigating these criminals with the help of foreign agencies like the Interpol."

Mr Siow is not the only one who is turning the tables on online scammers. Elsewhere, "scam-baiting" has emerged as the hottest Internet bloodsport today. Civilians play predators to hunt down the conmen behind the famous 419 advance-fee fraud or Nigerian scams which began in the 1970s. (See other story). It is called 419 after the section of Nigeria's legal code that deals with such scams. And according to a BBC report, 419 scams dupe Americans of about US$200 million (S$340 million) each year.

A police spokesman told Computer Times that it teams up with foreign enforcement agencies like Interpol to investigate such scams.

The spokesman declined to reveal details of how they knew the foreign fraudsters were here, except to say that "the presence of the accused in Singapore was brought to our notice". That led to their arrests.

Computer Times understands that some of the victims in these scams helped to lure the scammers to Singapore and notified the police.

People who receive such scam offers should contact the CAD duty officer at 6325-0000.

WHY DON'T YOU SEND ME SOME MONEY FIRST?

An online scam-baiting community, with websites such as 419eater, Artists Against 419 and the Chaos Project, provides scam-baiters with resources including automated responders and comprehensive writing guides.

Typically, scam-baiters pretend to fall for the scammer's ploy. They correspond with their "benefactors" and try to subtly gather information like bank accounts which they send to the police.

In return, they would get a generous cut of the proceeds.

419eater.com's spokesman Mike, who declined to give his full name to BBC, replied to Eboh posing as a fictitious Father Hector Barnett of the equally fictitious "Church of the Painted Breast".

He convinced the prince to go through a self-initiation ceremony by a painting a red "9" sign on his chest and sending him a picture of it. "He then tried to hit me for $18,000 for processing fees for transferring millions," "Mike" told the BBC.

Mike replied that the church had plenty of money, but there was a withdrawal fee of US$80 (S$136). He persuaded the prince to courier him the money, putting it inside a birthday card - which the prince did.

"Father Barnett" (who is Mike) then "ran away with the monies" from the church, although his replacement, "Father Mike Myers" (also Mike), was also interested in helping the prince - for another US$80 withdrawal fee, of course.

Unfortunately, Eboh had wised up by then and, on July 30, stopped corresponding with Mike.

A full account of Mike's scam-baiting is at BBC's website: news. bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3887493.stm or 419eater's website www.419.eater.com

BAITERS ARE CHEATERS TOO

Turning the tables on the scammers and tricking them to part with their money is considered cheating. Although the Singapore Police Force declined to comment, two lawyers here have said it is wrong.

"Yes, this is illegal," said Mr Philip Fong, a partner with Harry Elias Partnership. "If you did this with no intention of sending him money, then this is a cheating offence under the penal code - a criminal offence."

Another lawyer, Mr Bryan Tan, a specialist in technology-related legal issues also concurs: "It's a dangerous game because cheating a scammer is illegal - if he complains."

So, stop before any money or property changes hands, he advised.

SCAM-BAITING SITES