Playing With Fire: Why Scambaiting Is Riskier Than You Think

Have you ever received an obvious scam text or email and thought, it’s time to have some fun with the scammer? You’re not alone. There are many threads on social media and Reddit showing people antagonizing and provoking scammers, sometimes even tricking them into believing that the “victim” is falling for the scam. This practice is called “scambaiting.”

The advice from experts is not to take retaliatory action. You could be opening yourself up to further contact from the scammer and, in some cases, you could even be acting illegally. Let’s take a look.

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What Is Scambaiting?

These days, there are so many types of scams that involve contacting you directly. Some scammers will call your phone and try to talk you into giving out personal details or logins for accounts. Others send texts or emails from apparently reputable organizations with links to follow. Still others send messages via Facebook or other social media platforms, pretending they want to be friends (or more) to con money out of you.

Savvy individuals often recognize these scams immediately, sometimes due to phrasing or language used, or simply because they’ve seen an identical scam before. A common response to the frustration and anger at being targeted is scambaiting: pretending to go along with the scammer to trick them or antagonize them.

In many cases, it’s a form of petty revenge.

Scambaiting examples include:

Continuing conversations through Facebook/Instagram/X messages, often making up obviously wildly untrue statements
Posting the scammer’s phone number or email address on social channels or platforms like Craigslist
Pretending to be completely fooled by the scam to gather more information about the scammer, potentially for reporting purposes

The goal is to waste the scammer’s time and possibly even make them regret targeting that person.

The Dangers of Scambaiting

Some people perform scambaiting professionally to expose scammers and report them to the relevant authorities. These individuals are usually part of wider groups and have protections in place, such as fake numbers, voice changers, and other ways to hide their identity.

Most people, however, don’t have these protections. When you decide to engage with a scammer, you are instantly revealing that their targeting has been successful. They now know that the phone number, social account, or other channel is live and has a real person at the end. While they may give up on trying to scam you, they can pass that information onto other, potentially more sophisticated criminals.

For scambaiters who become too invested in their actions, there could be legal consequences. Even though the scammer is, in many cases, acting illegally, “revenge” tactics may also violate the law, including:

Sharing the scammer’s personal details
Harassing the scammer
Threatening the scammer

Scambaiting is simply not worth the risk.

Protect Yourself from Scams

Instead of scambaiting, block the scammer, where possible, and report the scam. It’s much safer than engaging with criminals and ensures that your behavior remains legal.

For information on the best ways to deal with a variety of scams, sign up for Scam Detector’s Scam Alerts. You receive regular updates, straight into your inbox, showing which scams you should be looking out for and what you should do if you’re targeted. Avoid scambaiting and, instead, stay informed and stay safer.

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