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Hacktivism: Scambaiting

DATE: January 12, 2025

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To close out our series on hacktivism, we delve into the world of scambaiting, an online practice where internet vigilantes attempt to turn the tables on hackers and protect potential victims. The goal of the scam baiters often goes beyond just wasting a scammer’s time. The goal of scambaiting is to gather as much information as possible to expose the scam. Scam baiters pose as a victim, pretending to go along with the scammer until they have a sufficient amount of information about the scam to expose or in some cases even hinder their operations.  

The first step in scambaiting is to get in touch with scammers. This isn’t difficult since scam email addresses and phone numbers are often posted on internet forums. The most effective baits take place through phone or online calls, this way the scammers waste their time talking to what they believe is a potential victim. Once contact is made the scam baiter can to one of two things, they can either try to waste as much time as possible or they can waste time while using hacking techniques to try and shut down the scammers. Either way, the more time wasted means less scamming for the criminals.  

Scambaiting has quickly evolved into a kind of internet entertainment with many scam baiters taking their antics online through live streams or YouTube videos. The  practice is made entertaining through humor or commentary, often poking fun at the scammers for their flawed attempts or lack of understanding over the companies they are trying to pose as. Each scam baiter has their own strategy for going after scammers. Jim Browning, a popular scambaiting YouTuber has cultivated a following of over 4 million subscribers by investigating and in some cases shutting down scam call centers. He is also known for working with law enforcement to provide evidence and expertise. To hear his story for yourself you can listen to the S3 E7 of the cyberTAP Podcast! Kitboga is another Twitch streamer/YouTuber with around 3.65 million subscribers whose content centers around reversing the scams onto the scammer often resulting in the scam centers losing thousands of dollars. He uses a voice changer to trick scammers into thinking he is an easy target and then gets them to give up enough information for him to track them or expose their scams. Both of these are great examples of scambaiting done in a controlled and legal manner, which begs the question, is scambaiting completely legal? 

The big question when it comes to any form of hacktivism is, is it all legal? There is nothing illegal happening if a scam baiter is just wasting a scammer’s time on a call, but it can develop into a crime if scam baiters are hacking into the criminal’s computers. Taking over someone else’s device or implanting malware isn’t legal in this case. Most of the time,  popular public scam baiters will report the scammers to the authorities instead of going after them themselves. This way the scammers may face real consequences without scam baiters breaking the law.  

Scambaiting is a unique example of hacktivism that highlights the power of individuals trying to fight against online fraud. It also serves as a reminder that systemic solutions are incredibly important for digital defense. Scambaiting is a very effective tool for spreading awareness and educating online communities so long as it is done in a safe and controlled environment. 

About the author

Hope Trampski

Student Assistant

htrampsk@purdue.edu

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