Tech entrepreneur created a trap that drives email scammers crazy and you can use it, too

At least 3.4 billion fake emails are sent around the world every day according to Security Magazine. These account for untold millions of losses due to online scams.

Historically, the "Nigerian Prince" scam is one of the most popular. It typically involves the fraudster promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment. Once the fraudster gets the money they either disappear or continue to concoct more scanrios to fleece the victim.

This scam dates back hundreds of years when scammers would contact businesses asking for money to get a wealthy relative out of a Spanish prison.

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, a serial entrepreneur who is the founder of The Next Web tech events, shared how he fights back against scammers, and it's pretty brilliant. He created a fake company called Nordic Procurement and when the scammer emails it, they're sucked into a time-consuming rabbit hole of out-of-the-office replies.

The point is to waste as much of the scammer's time as possible so they prey on fewer people.

I reply with this standard text: pic.twitter.com/o0OtSthbPN

— Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (@Boris) February 12, 2021

Nordic Procurement has a pretty funny tagline: "The only value of wasted time is knowledge. Stop wasting time, start trusting Nordic Procurement Services." A procurement company takes over a company's dealings with outside vendors and tries to come up with favorable terms.

Scammers who find themselves dealing with Nordic Procurement will soon learn that there is a lot of red tape in the industry.

After its initial success, Boris is looking for ways to scale and automate and his anti-scammer strategy.

When you email John you get a lot of emojis and sales guy talk and a ton of disclaimers.

Hi there, great to have established first contact and here's to making
lots and lots of money together! ? ? ? ? ??

Unfortunately, I can't send you the Request Form just yet, as we are
still awaiting your company registration information and will need a
copy of your passport or driver's license to verify your identity.
Apparently those attachments we're lost somewhere, which Helena
apparently already notified you about. Maybe you missed that one.

Or it is our antiquated email system that deleted them, you never know! ? ? ?

Anyway, please scan the original documents and attach them to an email
and send that to helena@noprocurement.com. As soon as I receive word
that the documents have been received, I'll send you the request form
so we can be in business.

If you haven't heard from me in a week or two, feel free to reach out
again, my inbox is open for you 24/7, and I tend to reply within 72
hours. Have an amazing day!!!! ABC (Always be closing), make it rain,
mo money more problems!

Lots of LOLZ,

John Negroni
Proud and ambitious junior account manager
Nordic Procurement Services, all the way boyzzzzz

?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??

Disclaimer: The information contained in this e-mail communication is
solely intended for the person to whom it has been sent. If someone
other than the intended recipient should receive or come into
possession of this e-mail communication, he/she will not be entitled
to read, disseminate, disclose or duplicate it.

!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

If you are not the intended recipient, you are requested to inform
Nordic Procurement of this by replying to this message, and to destroy
the original e-mail communication. Nordic Procurement, registered in
the Commercial Register under number 198273680, is neither liable for
the correct and complete transmission of the information contained in
this e-mail communication nor for any delay in its receipt.

!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

Privacy notice: We are used to dealing with confidential information
and understand that protecting your privacy is key to building and
maintaining good relations. We are doing the utmost to use the
information that has been trusted to us in the right way. Nordic
Procurement is a part of Nordic Procurement plc, and complies with the
policies from Nordic Procurement. You can check our Privacy Statement
on the Nordic Procurement website as well as on our own website.

!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

Boris was inspired to build his scammer trap by "Lenny," a chatbot created to create a telemarketer's worst nightmare. When a scammer is sent to the bot they speak with an old man who talks very slowly, is very proud of his family, and can't focus on the telemarketer's goal.

In this video clip below, Lenny eventually drives the scammer crazy:

This article originally appeared on 02.20.21.

More on Good.is

Woman with no qualifications tries to apply for nursing job, then ...

Why you should never hit 'unsubscribe' on an illegal spam email ...

This Guy Hilariously Used Adele Lyrics To Shut Down Facebook ...