Each year , on-line phishing scam be Americans roughlyhalf a billion dollarsin slip John Cash . One way to protect yourself is to educate your eye to greet fraudulent emails and cancel them once they enter your inbox , but someexperts recommenda more proactive room to deal with chiseler : take with them . The idea is that the more time they spend answering your questions , the less time they ’ll have to prey upon more susceptible victims . Sounds like a voguish plan , but few people have the clip or the patience to harness the flood of junk e-mail they receive one substance at a sentence . That ’s why a New Zealand - base not-for-profit develop a bot to help the causal agent .

accord toCo . Design , Re : cozenage from Netsafe is designed to keep the somebody at the other end of the email chain distracted for as long as possible . Web drug user wish to get in on the merriment can send on their cozenage emails tome@rescam.org . From there , an artificially levelheaded bot takes over the conversation . It ’s programmed to ask question that make it seem like an interested and uninstructed answerer — a scammer ’s best-loved dupe . But as the sampling electronic mail show , the cozenage never moves forward .

“ Did I tell you I was moving ? " the bot write when it ’s asked to mail its savoir-faire . " We fell out with the landlord . Apparently we ’re not allowed to have indoor flora in the attic cos it ’s a fervor hazard . " It might provide to place Chevron petrol vouchers in place of Johnny Cash , or to netmail a cant account number one digit at a prison term for security measure ’s sake . It ’s also subject of making spoilt jokes and literal just like a real person . “ I understand the importunity . metre is money as they say . Does that make ATM ’s meter machine ? Just a thought I had , ” one response reads .

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At some point the scammers will see they ’re being act as and quit replying , but not before they ’ve lost prison term that could have been spend going after someone else . So far , over 50,000 emailshave been sent by Re : cozenage . All the while , the nonprofit has been analyzing the messages it receives so the data can be used to well fight scammers in the future .

If you ’re favorable enough to have your inbox spare of message asking you to telegraph money to Nigerian princes , you may watch the telecasting below to see how the technology works .

[ henry / tCo . pattern ]