Image credit: Pexels
At some point, we’ve all been contacted by a Nigerian prince, long-lost uncle, or some guy that just can’t manage to get a bank account with the promise that if we just make one small wire transfer we’ll have millions in our account by morning.
Admittedly, I’ve responded to a few for fun just to see where the conversation can go. As The Verge reports, now one security firm has created a chatbot that allows you to respond to all those annoying scam messages and waste their time like they did yours by sending the email in the first place.
Video: ReScam
To use it, you just have to forward the first offending message to [email protected]. When you do, a proxy email address will start replying to the scammer’s emails for you. And the responses look pretty real.
Rescam has a few listed on their site. For instance, this was the chatbot’s first response to a request for a wire transfer.
Image credit: Rescame
It’s easy to use, and says just enough to keep the conversation going without letting on that you’re actually using a bot to do the talking.
Comments
One response to “This Chatbot Wastes Scammers’ Time, And It’s Glorious ”
Even though NetSafe seems like a valid not for profit entity in New Zealand, you’re still giving away your email address.
Effectively, you’re trying to protect your email address by making it available to them.
The same with any other website offering to solve your phishing/spam issues.
I still believe the best defence is to simply ignore and delete… Ignore and delete. Don’t engage. It hides how active your inbox is, the time of day you use it, etc.
If you really want to contribute to identifying new scams, the ACCC’s ScamWatch website is far more trusted.