I'm going to continue on from what I just posted on another blog by fromscratch, great blog, but as I posted the Forum Mod posted, and it made me wonder how much people are aware of with scammers. So I will repost what the Mod said, and some of my original post1
Forum Mod..... if you're going to 'play' please create a separate unique email/im account that does not have anything to do with your real name or any other personal identification.
seriously.
These people can find out anything they want about you through the very same methods that enforcement agencies use to track them. So set up a separate email/IM account!
It's cool to keep them busy, and away from those, that believe it or not, don't realize that they are actually a scammer. And I hope you are reporting them too? If they are from this site especially, copy and paste from your chat, or email them asking for money, or something that proves they are a scammer, and poof they are gone from here.
Most of the time the person you are chatting with is probably from Nigeria, or Sierra Leone, and they will use a pick up in the UK or the US for you to wire them money. Since money going into their areas by wire is watched closely, they channel it through banks. On your extra email account, get them to send their pictures or an email there, that way you have the header for their service provider to block their IP. Most have a dozen or so, but every IP addy that gets blocked is one less they can use. When you chat with them on Yahoo messenger etc, and you go to block them, choose the mark as spam option.
It's can be interesting to waste their time, report them, and make their life online much more difficult, but you should NEVER get into it too far on your own. Contact FBI Internet Fraud Division, or Western Union Fraud if they are asking you to wire them money, and let them handle it. You may think that they are just some dumbass scammer, but you do not know if they are working for some larger organization. Again, if you are using your regular email or IM, these people can find out anything they want about you, through the very same methods that enforcement agencies use to track them. It IS serious business, for those bigger people, when their operations get shut down, and they start losing money! Play safe, or don't play! 
Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)
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read more blogs!
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Blaiserboy
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Oct 20 @ 6:22PM
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Thanks for elaborating on this....
Certainly the problem is huge.....
I get three or four emails daily from people I assume to be scammers....
I am sure that others get as many if not more...
Great Post.!!!!
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fromscratch
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Oct 20 @ 6:28PM
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Great Advice
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tentfire
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Oct 20 @ 6:47PM
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I HAVE toyed with a scammer or two before through IM in the past.... then sent them packing.... THEN, the next thing I know, I am getting messages in ALL of my email accounts that are obviously from their "operation." There are the ones from "PayPal" that say that they need your info updated or your account will be suspended -- On the surface, it looks like it is from PayPal, but on closer observation you can see that it actually isn't.. even the logo is there.
And here is the REALLY scary part.... I started getting messages from banks that I do business with, stating that I need to update my info with them for this reason or that, only it really isn't from the actual banks but "fake sites" to look like them, meaning they are TRUE PROFESSIONALS at their "game" and have gotten into my computer, into my info, and know which banks I bank at so they know which sites to use to try and get my money. 
These scammers are BIG TIME, Hard Core, Bad A$$ CRIMINALS that belong to VERY LARGE groups of horribly bad people. As I touched on in my blog, they aren't usually just one person pulling a scam, but work from a "call center" so to speak. Only, a very dangerous one. They may talk funny, but they aren't as dumb as you may think, or at least their leader isn't. And they are capable of ANY kind of revenge.
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ForumMod
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Oct 20 @ 6:56PM
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thank you!
and we do ask that people make use of our 'report spam' button as soon as they receive one of these spam/scam/phishing emails. we try very hard to eliminate them as soon as they join, but invariably some of the more sophisticated ones sneak thru. unless people inform us, we won't know (we've refused to set up our email system so that emails are screened)
also remember that even with a 'fake' email/im account, they can read your headers, too. usually that's not a big problem, especially if you're with a large or nationwide provider, but the real 'pros' might have ways to trace your location if you're with a very local provider.  (not sure. i'm not a tech). generally the simplest and most prolific spammers are online to collect valid email addresses. lol, ever wonder where that junk email comes from? 
the main thing is to never send money to anyone, no matter what their sob story is! and don't give out your address or phone number unless it's to someone you've come to trust implicitly.
Contact FBI Internet Fraud Division, or Western Union Fraud if they are asking you to wire them money, and let them handle it.
that's their business and expertise, just as the scam-game is with those fakes and cons.
Play safe, or don't play!
excellent advice. 
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CentsofHumor
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Oct 20 @ 7:05PM
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For what its worth..I advertised my kids bikes on Craigs List..and got a response
that I'd be getting a check for 2800.00..(Cashiers) which I should cash..then send
the remaining 2700.00 to some address in the Bronx. OK....I saw that one coming
and packed up a box of rocks from my garden, that weighed about 85 lbs..The
scammers sent a FED EX Truck to pick up the "Bikes'..and I was supposed to get
a Western Union Confirm..for the $2800.00..So I gave the box of rocks to FED EX
and Western Union said the scammers were performing as usual..scamming folks.
and we're still LOAO...(laughing our ass off)
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kywonder
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Oct 20 @ 8:14PM
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There are many on here. I have had one from here hit me up for 50 grand, another one for $400, and another for $3000. One from here wanted me to let him send me a laptop so I could send it to Singapore for him. Another wanted me to cash a check for him and the list goes on and on. I have reported so many of them to MD. One is still on here and has been on here under so many different names, yet uses the same pic. Not once have they been removed.
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GreenEyes1964
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Oct 20 @ 8:18PM
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Yes they are on here, They have been chasing me..... I swear the same one has two diff names..... They sound alike..... This has been alot lately in the last two weeks...
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kywonder
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Oct 20 @ 9:52PM
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CentsofHumor,
I wish that I had your sense of humor. That was totally awesome.
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Hooks
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Oct 20 @ 11:42PM
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Thanks to all of you for taking the time to read this, and reply! Scammers are a problem everywhere, so always take time to report them, every little bit helps. If you would like to learn a little bit more about "scambaiting" as it's called, then visit this site www.419eater.com A lot of information there, and though they are down right now, the video section is hilarious. These are a collection of videos that scammers have been asked to do by baiters, so they can help them become movie stars, stuntmen, pop stars, etc! 
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azgirl701
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Oct 21 @ 12:20AM
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i dont play games with scammers anyone asking for money or with no pic they get reported fast
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fefe_78412
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Oct 21 @ 1:11AM
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we all have dealing with these people .
1) why they don't want you to sent it (U.S.Mail ) is then you are playing with the goverment and jail time right off the bat. if you sent it fed-x you don't get in as much trouble the post office told me. so check that one out. they well not want you to do that one . if you get a post office check to be cash take it to them. that is big time in jail. on them.. we are talking fbi ... cia ...and you name it.....
2). ask to see them on a web cam not a picture but a web cam most people now days have one or can get one. the guys over seas can use one too. tht is a die give a way. They know someone that has one.
3). they tell you they in a motel and the computer well not let them have one . think about it...lolol wrong you can us a cam on a lap top too.
4). I did some search on this . they is a police force in Nigeria . that just love these people . they like to take them out back behind the barn .. and you can finish this.....
5).I have learn to read the profile very close you check the weight of them guy. when was the last time you saw a man 6 feet tall and weight 95 lbs. not in this live time... check the spelling. what he say he does for a living and then the weight and height again . it all add up. then you well get 3 or 4 new email all at one time . lolol dead give a way .
6). the other dead give a way is they want you to take care of they kid. right a way . why they make a living for you both . i smell a big rat they. would you give your son or daughter to someone you just meet way you are over sea. not me.
7) buy me a ticket to come home i tell them to go fly a kite. my house is first before my own kids. i want a roof over my head .
8) THIS IS WHERE THE FUN COMES IN. TRUST ME. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE FUN...
i sit down and think of something i can write to them . thi8s is want i tell them and i promise it works. lolol
honey i have to come they today i'm sorry i know i promise you the money tro come here but they was a promble here and i have to leave the us right a way. i did something i should not have done. i could not help my self . i was telling my husband about us and that i had just clean out one bank account and was going to the other one when he found me . i had to shoot him with a gun. what reqally made it bad was they kids and neighbor walk in on it at the time i was doing it so i had to kill them too. i have to get the first plane out of here . i clear eavery penny i can and it comes to a million dollars. i hope you don't mine i love you do much . i well talk to you soon meet me at the air port ok love your name loll9ol i promise he well not talkto you again i have use this more then one time and it has work... you have fun making up your own story .
fefe
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Hooks
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Oct 21 @ 2:32AM
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kywonder, the send the laptop one is from someone doing credit card theft, the laptop would have been delivered from a store/coampany, and you in effect would be recieving stolen property.
fefe they don't do mail because of the address issue, and anything mail, fedex, ups etc has to go through customs. If it is wired to them anyone can show up and collect it, as long as they have the correct information. The emails you get, I am the widow, son, daughter, banker, attorney of Prince Abudabu, and I'll give you a bazillion dollars to cash a check, or let me wire his money into your US account, originated in Nigeria. It became so bad that Nigeria became the Internet Scam Capitol of The World! The government there passed Article 419 to deal with it, and you are right, the law, and punishment there is not like here at all. If you are fortunate enough to make it to prison, then you are even more fortunate to survive it!
My first major scam situation was several years ago, and I was contacted on Yahoo Messenger. They were doing the money order scam where they send you perfectly ligitimate looking money orders (usually real ones that have been cashed, then washed with the name, and amount changed) that they are unable to cash in the country they are in, so that you can deposit them in your account, and wire them the money. As I said, I was contacted on my regular IM account, and let the woman send me pics on my email account, I knew it was a scammer, but I never thought they would be gathering info on me. I got the FBI, and Western Union involved, and they set it up for them to collect the money, so they could be arrested in Nigeria. They arrested a couple of men, several women in Benin City, and two men here in Texas. I thought I was done, until I started getting death threats by email, im's, and phone. Over the next several months arrest were made in California, the UK, France, and Nigeria. It was a bad experience, but with the help of certian people, I got all my stuff online changed, and my phone. Eventually the threats stopped, but it was a bad experience to learn a lesson!
NEVER give anyone your exact name, age, and city you live in! If you think it is hard to find you, just go type your name in a search engine, then one of the people searches comes up, click a couple of them, and in just a few minutes you will see your name, age, address, and any phone number you have ever posted on the internet. And if they pay a small fee they can access more info, such as family members, any public records etc!
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ladyvampire
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Oct 21 @ 10:05AM
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The way I found out about scammers, was when this one guy, just kept messaging me telling me I am a beautiful angel, that the angels must be jealous of my beauty, etc. (This was right after a break up, so I was very vunerable.) And he was in Nigeria, was trapped there because someone had robbed him. His company told him he had to pay his own way back, etc. Oh, and lest we forget, his beautiful 5 year old daughter, who was in New York with her Grandmother. I fell hard. I was online every night.. staying up untill all hours talking with him. Then came the money issue., and then he started demanding that I send him $10,000.00. Thats when my alarm started going off. The thing is he did send me pics. (He was on myspace) Then I noticed on his page, under comments, he was receiving messages from other women as well. I contacted them, and we realized we were being scammed (Thank god I didnt send any money) So, we innondated his page under the comment section with all kinds of insults, (myspace.com/thunderbrownus) is where you can see for your self how we embarded him with all kinds of insults, actually, it turned out to be a contest as to who could send the most and best... lmao. From then on, I was on the lookout.. Oh, and some do send pics. I had him call me once I realized he was a scammer, and the thing is, he could barely speak english. And this was someone who supposedly grew up in New York, yeah, right!!!!
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ladyvampire
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Oct 21 @ 10:07AM
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Oh, and one more thing, I changed my number after that call!
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1982danaz
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Oct 21 @ 1:19PM
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Actually it's pretty easy to pick apart the scammers. But, sometimes it's kinda hard to tell. Like with the ones that give you their yahoo in the 1st mail. I actually kinda thought one was a scammer but couldnt really tell a few months ago, she didn't have a picture or anything and said it would be easier for her to talk on yahoo because she hasnt had a computer in a while. so we get to talking. couple days later talking 4 hours a day texting. then that progressed to 6-8 hrs a day talking and even 18 hours in 1 day. Now obviously a scammer won't be talking to you for that amount of time. yes, I got pictures, and I actually went to see her in CHItown as things went pretty well actually. We just weren't a match for eachother. But I coulda sworn it was a scammer in the beginning with the 1st email sent to me. It's usually one of those that I would delete and report. Just gotta follow your gut sometimes I guess but you do have to be VERY CAREFUL!!!! But I've been on these sites for a while now, so it's pretty easy for me to pick them apart.
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