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The Chaos Project
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As will probably be obvious from perusal of this site, the contents are the result of a flurry of concerted activity that took place late in 2002. A shortage of time and a decline in enthusiasm left it in a somewhat less than finished state, but we hope you will find that there is enough material here to provide some humble amusement.
Mark Twain once said that only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we." The Chaos Project certainly didn't have that right, but nonetheless kept up a practice of referring to itself in the first (and sometimes third) person plural. This was of course intended at the time to suggest that it was more than the work of just one idle mind. Hopefully this may be excused; the appallingly pompous writing tone, of course, should not.
The Chaos Project
10 December 2003
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Welcome to
The Chaos Project |
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The Chaos Project is a modest effort to thwart the activities of one or two Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud criminals. Initially inspired by the growing ranks of 'scam-baiters' and their hilarious exploits in taunting and humiliating Nigerian fraudsters, The Chaos Project takes the concept in a slightly different direction: by employing some moderate Internet skills and a little native cunning, our aim is to actively frustrate the efforts of the scammers, acting as responsibly as possible, but wreaking as much havoc upon the guilty as can be practically achieved.
Described as "the new Internet bloodsport", Nigerian Scam Baiting is the art and science of playing Nigerian '419' con artists at their own game: outright fraud. The Chaos Project was inspired initially by the brilliant and highly-polished work found at such sites as Scam-O-Rama (the closing message of our all-time favourite, in which the targeted victim ends by actually extracting money from the fraudster, is a work of comic genius). Baiting and frustrating Nigerian scammers is fast becoming a popular pastime, and many other worthy efforts can be found in increasing abundance as near as your closest search engine. Although we originally began indulging in this 'sport' mainly for the amusement factor, after a week or two we began to warm to the idea of not so much poking gentle fun at the fraudsters as frustrating, humiliating, and thoroughly demoralising them. After all, it's important to remember what's going on here: this is not a case of idle western sophisticates making childish fun of simple African tribesmen. These people are, quite simply, outright criminals. There is only one reason why they engage in conversation with you: they intend to steal thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money. And beyond the millions of dollars they extract annually from gullible (and greedy) victims, news reports strongly suggest that some of those who are foolish enough to be lured to meetings with the fraudsters are robbed, kidnapped, and even murdered. Fortunately, transcripts and reports of conversations with these con artists suggest that while some may be quite convincing (particularly if they manage to actually make voice contact with you), none of them seem to be terribly bright. Armed with a little bit of imagination, some basic Internet skills, and a serious intent to cause mischief and mayhem, the chances of pulling off successful reverse scams actually seem quite good. Such is the work of The Chaos Project. Perhaps you too will be inspired to adopt a 'pet Nigerian fraudster'. Remember, as well as amusing yourself and your friends, you are doing the world a service by monopolising the time and frustrating the efforts of these people. So ... why not copy and paste any one of the numerous examples of scam approaches that can now be found archived on the web? Send it back to the originating email address with whatever half-baked excuse you can concoct - "I accidentally intercepted this email from you" - after all, these are spams as well as scams: the knuckleheads at the other end are hardly likely to look at your keen registration of interest and say "Hey--I don't remember writing to that guy!" |
An open letter to all Nigerian fraudsters About Advance Fee (419) Fraud
Chaos Projects Chaos Project #1 Chaos Project #1 is now complete. After finally becoming aware of our actions, the targetted scammers made some futile attempts at retaliation and damage control, and then finally gave up. A writeup of the 'endgame' phase is being prepared for publication, but until then readers are welcome to peruse the four simultaneous conversations with which we engaged our target while we sized up his operation, before moving in for the kill. Chaos Project #2 The sad tale of Monsieur Mawete Maseka, our attempts to warn him that he was in danger, and the complete lack of response from all those whom we asked for help.
Latest updates at The Chaos Project website: 22 Dec 2002 10:00 GMT - Published CP#2 17 Dec 2002 03:20 GMT - Published the AQ
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| The Chaos Project can be contacted by email: the_chaos_project@yahoo.com | ||