Scamorama

Eve Edelson

ISBN 10: 1932857389 / ISBN 13: 9781932857382

Editore: Disinformation Co, 2006

Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Codice articolo G1932857389I5N00

Riassunto:

This book is about liars telling lies with compound interest to other liars. A -struggle is being waged on the Internet between criminals and comedians. On one side are fraudsters who con their victims out of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The basic tool of the trade is e-mail, and the crime is the infamous “419” scam—a form of fraud whose current masters hail from Nigeria and which gets its name from section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code. It begins with an e-mail from a stranger:

I am soliciting your assistance as to enable my family round up the remains of our life. Following the death of my husband Sani Abacha, former head of state of Nigeria, the new president has turned the country against us . . . I will be grateful if you could receive my last $50 million for safe keeping. I will give you 10% as a commission and to cover any expenses . . .

On the other side of the struggle, pranksters from around the world are writing back to scammers strictly to waste their time. The resulting literary genre is -scambaiting—psychological warfare for clowns. Some anti-scammers go further, breaking into scammers’ e-mail accounts to warn off their victims, and helping law enforcement.

This book documents a weird form of cultural exchange made possible by the Internet. It is a hilarious introduction to the “419” scam, with correspondences between scammers and people who love to yank their chains.

L'autore: Eve Edelson has written plays and short stories, and played bass guitar in various obscure bands. She has worked in IT and been published in a number of computer security journals. She is the owner of the popular website Scamorama.com.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: Scamorama
Casa editrice: Disinformation Co
Data di pubblicazione: 2006
Legatura: Paperback
Condizione: Fair
Condizione sovraccoperta: No Jacket