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Fake Accounts To Trap Crooks

 Fake accounts and identities to give to internet cons...
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It would be nice to reply to some of the spoof bank emails and other identity theft tricks with fake name and addresses and account numbers that were designed to trap the crooks that try to use them. The banks and interpol could work together so you could phone a number a receive a bogus id to hand over... Is this entrapment? good question.. Where I would draw the line is, if you leave some money on the road and then arrest someone who picks it up and doesn't hand it in, that is definitely entrapment, because you are creating the temptation for the crime. In the case of the account and identity theft scams, they are deliberately seeking to rob people, like a pickpocket..
—handaroo, Feb 28 2005

The 419 Eater http://www.419eater.com/
Bait and reverse-scam email scammers. Now with 10% more ethical discussion. [Detly, Mar 04 2005]

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       Welcome, new one. Read the help file under the Meta (to the left) for any questions.   

       As to your first idea, if you could get it to work, it would be useful.   

       Also, might I suggest putting this under Business: Scam?
—DesertFox, Feb 28 2005
   

       Doesnt this smack of entrapment?
—Knife Knut, Mar 01 2005
   

       It only counts as entrapment if the police department initial contacts the scammer. If the account simply exists in stasis, and the scammer makes first contact, then it's perfectly legal.
—shapu, Mar 04 2005
   

       And what happens on the off chance that you put in the address, code, etc of somebody's real account? It can happen, I knew someone who had a pin number to one card they had, and then they somehow got a card from a different company with the same card, so what are the chances of this happening?
—froglet, Mar 05 2005
   


 

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