Updated on July 7, 2019 by SCARS|EDUCATION™ Editorial Team

SCARS™ Special Report: Scambaiting – You are Only Hurting Yourself

Continuing The Discussion On Scambaiting

Scam Baiting Is Where A Victim Or Other Person Engages In Deception And In Some Cases Actual Online Fraud Lying To A Scammer For “Fun”

The mistaken ideas are that it either wastes the scammer’s time or causes them to go to extreme tasks because of the scam that is being pulled on them.

Some wrongly believe that it is ok to scam a scammer.

That is like saying it is ok to murder a murderer.

WRONG IS WRONG

In our view this is not a hobby. It is not fun. It is not therapeutic. It is engaging in the same kinds of deception that scammers do.

In fact, in our opinion, it can further reinforce the PTSD that a victim suffers from by continuing to expose the victim to scams.

It does not matter if the other person is a criminal or not. If you engage in deception regardless of your intentions it is ethically (and in some cases legally) the same. Wire fraud is wire fraud.

We expect the FBI to track down these criminals, but what if their African governments came to track you down?

Deception is deception, lying is lying. If you want to hold the high moral ground then do not scam bait.

Scambaiting Is Wrong

Our position is that scambaiting has many negative qualities and it depends on the person who is doing it how great the damage is to them.

1. It is being deceitful – you are lying to a scammer. Just because they are that way does not mean you want to lower yourself to their level and become a liar too.
2. Wanting to take it out on the scammer is a form of revenge. Maybe a mild form, but still a form. Revenge hurts the person doing it as much as the target. When is enough? With most scam baiters there is never enough, it becomes a compulsion and obsession, they stop when they just get tired. But nothing changes.
3. It comes from an emotion of hatred. Scambaiters may not admit it but they hate scammers. You can be angry at a scammer because of what they did to you, you can say you hate them, but real hate – the kind of hate that you cannot let go of is more dangerous for you than for them. Hate will consume you eventually. Of course, most are not willing to use that word, they prefer words like: loathe, detest, despise, unable to bear, can’t stand, can’t tolerate, etc. Hate is still hate!
4. It will frustrate you. Scam baiting accomplishes nothing other than to consume your time. You are not stopping scammers. Yes, you can waste their time and make them do silly things but nothing changes with it. The scammers just learn from it, so you are making them smarter. The only scammers that will fall for it anyway are the dumb ones – the new or least experienced. The professionals will just block you.
5. It is just an outlet for your own aggression or for your own hatred against scammers. You may get a momentary high from baiting a scammer, but in the long run, it just leaves you hollow.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO RECOVER FROM A TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE – RE-LIVING IT OVER AND OVER – CAN’T YOU SEE THAT?

Even those that make fun of scammers are doing it because deep down they loath scammers, while having fun with them.

In The End, This Is An Argument About Revenge And Who That Hurts Most

We view it as a self-destructive behavior.

It is also a contagious behavior.

Angry victims easily fall into that trap. For that reason, we disagree with it and prohibit it in our groups, and within our SCARS Membership, and through our SCARS Code of Conduct.

In Addition, Depending On Who The Scammers Are, Some Of Them Are In Fact Dangerous

The different types of scammers by regions – some are dangerous

Our position would have no value if we did not defend it, so we are always willing to discuss it further.

PLEASE SHARE OUR ARTICLES WITH YOUR CONTACTS
HELP OTHERS STAY SAFE ONLINE

SCARS™ Team
A SCARS Division
Miami Florida U.S.A.

TAGS: SCARS, Important Article, Information About Scams, Anti-Scam, Angry Scam Victims, Angry Romance Scam Victims, Hating Scammers, Hate Scammers, Loath Scammers,Scam Baiting, Scam Baiter, Scambaiting, Traumatic Experience, Scam Trauma, Reliving Trauma

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SCARS|EDUCATION™ Editorial Team

SCARS Editorial Team at SCARS Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams™ Inc.

SCARS|EDUCATION™ RomanceScamsNow.com™ is the official knowledge and victims' support publication of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams™ Incorporated [SCARS]™ It is edited and published by the SCARS Team. Contact@AgainstScams.org SCARS is the world's leading anti-scam charitable nonprofit nongovernmental organization, based in Miami Florida U.S.A. Its founder has been involved in combating online fraud since 1991. SCARS™ - the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. is a charitable nonprofit nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to advocating victim's causes and changing government and law enforcement attitudes toward online fraud for good! Please join us in becoming a member of SCARS - it's free! Add your voice so that the world will listen at last - just go to www.AgainstScams.org. The SCARS|RSN website and all of our publications (including social media) are maintained by our own staff employees and volunteers to provide you the most up to date information about scams & scammers from around the world. We show you how to avoid them or recover from them. SCARS is the only registered online crime victims' assistance & support organization in the world. Be sure to report scammers here. Also, visit our main Facebook page for more information about romance scams.

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