Humiliating Entertainment or Social Activism? Analyzing Scambaiting Strategies Against Online Advance Fee Fraud

Scam baiters 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 the two active scam baiting communities - 419eater.com and the scambaiter.com. Content analysis of several discussions and the examination of interviews from the web radio 'Area 419: Scam baiting Radio' resulted in the seven categories of scam baiting techniques that are presented in this paper. Our 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 scam baiters take action against Internet scammers. The analysis on various scam baiting practices is intended as a base for future discussions, for instance, whether some scam baiting methods should be implemented in media competence training.