Yearly, dozens of people in the world are deceived by scammers on the Internet. But the authorities are not the only ones to take action: There are networks of tech-savvy volunteers working to catch them.
“We waste their time; We spend their resources and make them think they're not as good as they think they're”, one of the volunteers told the BBC, using Jill's fictitious name.
She is part of a global network that calls itself scam baiters (English term that can be translated into Spanish as “Scammer-catchers”) and who spends his free time trying to manipulate scammers into believing that they fell into his trap.
Scammers use different techniques, from telling them by email that they have won the lottery to assuring them that their distant relatives left them an inheritance. But they are the ones who end up being deceived.
“There are always going to be scammers, but we can lower their fumes a little and keep some of their victims away from them, We'll be doing something good”, adds Jill.
One of the main techniques they use, says Wayne -another “Scammer-catchers” who usually works with Jill- is to filter details about scammers and their conversations on the internet.
The goal is to filter them in search engine results so that potential victims are alerted if they type in the scammer's name.
Fountain: BBC