Whether we’d like to admit it or not, we fall for scams sometimes. Maybe not we Pandas particularly, but we as a society. According to a report by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Feedzai, scammers siphoned away over $1.03 trillion globally in 2024.

Yet not everyone is so easy to scam. Some people know how to play scammers at their own game, and when they put their scammer detective hats on, hilarity often ensues. We love to see scammers getting payback, so, we’ve collected some of the most creative and funniest conversations of the kind. See them below and rejoice!

We also want Panda to be safe online and know how to protect themselves from scammers. So, we reached out to Jake Moore, the global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, Europe’s number one cybersecurity company. He kindly agreed to talk to Bored Panda about the risks of scam-baiting, the most common scam tactics today and offered some practical tips on how to keep scammers away. Read his expert insights below!

#1 So Sad

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#2 Got A Message From A Scammer, Decided To Play With Them A Little

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#3 Wanna Date?

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If you think only losers fall victim to scams, you probably need to think again. Recent data from Gallup shows that one in three Americans have at least one family member who was scammed in the past year. 8% say they’ve been victims of financial fraud themselves.

While the numbers aren’t that high, scams are still the second-worst crime worry for American households. 57% of respondents told Gallup that they often or occasionally fear getting scammed. The one thing that scares people more than scams is identity theft, as 72% of the respondents worry about it because they believe the ramifications might be worse than any other type of crime.

#4 Currently My Go To Response:

Just found this sub and love it. I got a bit to learn from you guys regarding baiting them in for a bigger sting.

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#5 I Tried

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#6 Short And Sweet… They Are Being Tracked In Their Nightmares

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Most of the conversations we’ve collected here are clever comebacks to scammers, but people also love a good scam-baiting story. Mostly because it’s so satisfying to see a swindler get their comeuppance. Usually, scam baiting refers to people wasting a scammer’s time and resources so they can’t con even more people.

Some people have even turned scam baiting into careers. Like the YouTube channel Scammer Payback, where creator and streamer Pierogi catches scammers and serves them justice, which has over eight million subscribers. Reddit also has dedicated communities where people bait scammers, like r/Scams, r/ScammerPayback, r/scammers, r/scambait, and more.

#7 I’m On The Books Guys. I Cannot Wait For My Appointment

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#8 Oops

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#9 Had To Be Reminded

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While scam baiting might be fun and satisfying to read about, there are many risks associated with it. While digital creators both educate and entertain their audience with their scam-baiting tactics, it can easily backfire for some. 

Global cybersecurity advisor at ESET Jake Moore kindly agreed to tell Bored Panda more about why it might be so dangerous. “Scam-baiting can bring personal safety concerns like retaliation, harassment, or even reverse cyberattacks,” he says. “Scammers can often know much more about their victims than they let on, so, although it may be tempting, it can be very dangerous to lead them on.”

#10 This Is How I Deal With These Jerks

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#11 Tarot Scammers On Instagram “Feeling My Energy” Just From Reading My Username

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#12 Scammers, I Always Have Fun With Them, Do You?

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He warns people that in some cases, there might even be legal repercussions. “Although it may seem counterintuitive, there could even be potential legal implications if the scam baiter crosses boundaries such as recording the conversations without proper consent or places any software on the scammers’ devices.”

#13 Another CEO Gift Card Scam

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#14 Molly Doesn’t Remember The Accident. Poor Girl

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#15 I’m A Lil New To This

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Scammers try to rip people off using many different tactics: advanced fee payments, pretending to be customer service or a government agency, telemarketing, and many more. Yet the most common way scammers get people’s money is by sending out phishing emails. “Attackers impersonate trustworthy entities to obtain sensitive information,” Moore explains.

#16 Got Eeeeem

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#17 A Pleasant Conversation I Had With A Whatsapp Scammer Today

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#18 Scam Texts. But Scammers Are Such Fun To Mess With At Times

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With new technological advancements, phishing has become increasingly difficult to spot. “Tactics have evolved significantly,” Moore notes, “becoming increasingly sophisticated through the use of artificial intelligence, deepfake technologies, and highly targeted personalised approaches designed to appear more credible and convincing.”

#19 Scammer Text From Today

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#20 First Time Getting A Scam Text. Had Some Fun With This One

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#21 Who’s Scamming Who

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Bored Panda asked the global cybersecurity expert for some recommendations on how to stay safe from scams. “To protect themselves effectively, people need to remain informed about current scams and always verify the sender if something is unexpected or urgent, but especially if the request is for personal or financial information,” Moore emphasizes.

#22 Scammers Don’t Fall For Scams

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#23 Scam Gone Wrong

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#24 Had A Little Fun With A Scammer. They Didn’t Take It Well

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“Using unique passwords, activating two-factor authentication, and limiting the sharing of personal information online can help reduce being caught up in a scam,” Moore adds. “Furthermore, keeping antivirus up to date and simply being cautious of unexpected links or attachments will also help people stay safe online.”

#25 Went With The Plot Of Ozark

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#26 I Think I Took It Too Far

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#27 “I Think You’re A Psycho Patient”. All Pics I Got From A 1 Second Google Search

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Other experts also say to be wary of clicking on links and new website addresses that may appear identical to the ones you frequent. Don’t be like Michael Scott and don’t help the son of a deposed Nigerian prince. And while you’re at it, don’t go on a date with someone who’s looking for a healthy non-smoker with both kidneys.

#28 Laughed A Little Too Hard Messing With This Scammer. Can’t Believe He Didn’t Want To Go To Our Mother’s Funeral

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#29 Tolkiened A Scammer Out Of Existence On Telegram

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#30 My Buddy’s Fb Account Got Stolen And I Already Knew About It. This Was Fun

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Do you have any stories about scammers, Pandas? Even if it didn’t end very well, share your story with us in the comments! And if you’d like to see more stories of scammers getting owned, head over here and here. And, remember: update your passwords and stay safe out there!

#31 Well That Escalated Quickly (Common Whatsapp Scam That I Have Been Getting)

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#32 Gotta Scam The Scammers

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#33 What Is It With These Weirdly Specific Scams?

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#34 I Did My Best To Help Them. They Are Not Responding Anymore But Will Update If They Do

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#35 No Response

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#36 Hannah Never Responded

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#37 Scammer Angered By “What”

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#38 After Years Of Texts, I Finally Responded

This person has been texting me this exact message for years. I am not Lile and I do not live at this address. For context, I sent him a photo of the house from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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#39 I Have Never Been Called This Before

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#40 First One How Did I Do?

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#41 First Attempt And I Have No Self Control

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#42 My Response To A Scammer

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#43 Get Scammed, Scammer. Long But Worth It. Was Wondering What Sending A Wall Of Memes Would Illicit. Anger, I Guess

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#44 Another Fake Cam Girl Scammer On Instagram Again, They Really Need A Policy For This Stuff

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#45 I Hate When Scammers Don’t Do The Smallest Bit Of Research Ahead Of Time

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#46 Got The Ultimate Response I Worked For…

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#47 Phishing Scammer Gets Sent A Masked Url To Meatspin

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#48 Though So Short Lived, I Thought Yall Might Get A Good Laugh. 99.9% Sure This Was A Scam Attempt

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#49 Got A Scam Text

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#50 I Played An UNO Reverse

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#51 My Boss Needed Apple Gift Cards

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#52 Should I Be Worried?

I’m kind of new to this subreddit and I gave myself an opportunity to scam a scammer back and I actually succeeded, but the only problem is that they have my number and they can have the opportunity to text me. Now the way that “she” said “I’ll make you surfer” is kind of worrying me a little bit and I don’t know if she actually means it or not. I’m kind of freaked out. And I’ve seen at least seen 13-17 year olds do it and have fun. But I’m kind of worried about the outcome for me though. (I’m 15 years old with somewhat high anxiety). I just need some clarity if they’re actually bluffing instead to strike fear.

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#53 Not Quite Payback But Felt Good

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#54 I Finally Got One! How Did I Do???

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#55 Scammer Got Ahold Of A Local Artist’s Instagram And Messaged Me. Luckily, I Was Playing A Show With The Guy At The Time (And I Work At A Bank So I Know These Scams)

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#56 Bad Scammer, Good Sport

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#57 Never Seen One This Bad

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#58 Scammer Respecting The Struggle. Never Responded. Homie Knew What Was Up

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#59 Scammer Pretended To Be My Grandma

Recently got this Facebook DM on my personal account and got really excited bc I have talked to my grandma in a really long time and thought she might’ve changed her mind, low and behold it was a scammer pretending to be my grandma. I’m so tired of this.

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#60 I Got My First Scam Text. I Woke Up To The Text And Replied Cuz I Wasn’t Having It And Then It Clicked That I Can Mess With The Scammer, Apparently The Darkhold Doesn’t Phase It

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#61 This Guy Must Be New

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#62 Have Been Getting Texts Like This For The Past Few Months. Makes Me Want To Smash My Phone

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#63 How I Deal With Scam Texts

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#64 Craigslist Phone Scammers Are Annoying

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#65 Got A Scam/Bot Dm And I Think I Handled It Well

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#66 Rip Kelly

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#67 Trolling Made Scammer Mad LOL

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#68 Tried Flipping The Script On Them

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#69 Louise Here

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#70 Cynthia

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#71 Bored With Them Now So I Just Do This. Wrote A Python Script That Takes Text And Randomly Cases It. They Usually Stop Pretty Quickly

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#72 Finally Got My First One

Had a good laugh with this one throughout a long work day so figured I would share. Blocked them before they had a chance to respond to the last pic.

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#73 Omg Is This What I Think It Is

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#74 This Ended Abruptly

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#75 So A Scammer Texted Me…

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#76 Scammer Tried With The Wrong Person

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#77 Ever Since I Found This Subreddit I’ve Been Looking Forward To Being Texted By A Scammer! Finally!

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#78 I Respond To Scam Texts Differently Than Most

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#79 The Old Mum I Changed My Number Scam

They must be desperate. They didn’t even pretend to care about what I was doing, just straight into pay for this.

Besides everybody knows it’s the phone that dies not the sim card. Am I wrong for being disappointed in the effort they put in?

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#80 Nice Try Buckaroo

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#81 They Still Haven’t Replied

I was cracking up the entire time typing the last paragraph, and was really hoping for a response back as i had a lot more stuff to share.

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#82 Scammer Tried To Steal My Email. This Trick Is As Old As My Great Grandma That Passed Away Last Year At The Age 102!

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#83 I Scammed The Scammer

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#84 Its Been 30 Mins And No Response. U Think The Scammer Caught On To My Third Person Reply. Clearly A Whatsapp Scam Baiter. They’re Giving Me The Silent Treatment Now

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#85 I Caught Them Off Guard

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#86 Snitched

So I got a text from “yahoo” earlier today saying something along the lines of “someone has tried to add a phone number to your account. Rely ‘N’ if this was not you, otherwise just ignore this text.” Without thinking, I replied “N”. Something seemed off, as I didn’t get an immediate auto response. So l went online and logged into yahoo. I changed my password, checked to make sure I still had two factor authorization set up, and looked at my account activity. There was nothing there regarding any phone number change attempts Fast forward to about 10 minutes later, I get another text from the original number saying I need to provide them with the security code that yahoo is sending me so that they can secure my account. While reading that text, I get a text from yahoo with a verification code. Naturally I deleted both conversations and just went about my day. Another ten minutes goes by, and I get another text (pictured below) about how this is my last opportunity to send my yahoo verification code. Boom, another code comes through from yahoo. Being as I am home with Covid and bored, I decide to see who I can cry and whine to about this. After a few minutes poking around, I find myself filling out a cyber scam report on fbi.gov. Once I was done, 1 was about to close the web page when I thought ‘let’s have some fun for once! So I took a screen shot of the page and sent it to the scam number. I couldn’t be happier with the response I received.

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