Re:scam will reply to scam emails using an AI chatbot that will waste the time of cyber criminals. IF you get annoyed by those endless scam emails, there is now a free service that offers a hilarious and ingenious solution to deal with them once and for all.
Matthew Dunn @mattydunn11
NOVEMBER 9, 2017 1:40PM
IS THERE anything more annoying than getting one of those scam emails asking for your details so you claim the hundreds of thousands of dollars left to you from a passing relative?
From bank customers being sent a fake notification telling them their ‘payment was unsuccessful’ to fraudulent Netflix account suspension alerts, email phishing scams are constantly bombarding our email accounts.
Thankfully most email scam attempts are easy to detect and can be quickly avoided.
But what if there was a way to troll the scammers who had just tried to make you their victim?
Enter Re:scam — an artificially intelligent email bot made to reply to scam emails, created by not-for-profit organisation Netsafe.
“I adopt one of my many personalities to continue the conversations of any would-be victim,” explained the organisation’s website.
“I waste their time with a never-ending series of questions and anecdotes so that they have less time to pursue real people.
“Just like you, I mqke [sic] typos and jokes that no one appreciates. I’m super interested, a bit naive ... I just have a few questions to ask.”
The free service works by getting people to forward their suspected emails to the organisation, who will complete a check to confirm the email is a scam.
When confirmed, a proxy email address is used to flood the inbox of would-be cyber criminals from the AI chatbot who is pretending to be a vulnerable target.
Once you have forwarded the email nothing else is required on your part, but Re:scam said the more emails you send through, the more effective they will be at wasting the time of crooks.
The organisation also assures it keeps none of your personal details, so you don’t have to worry about that.
news.com.au
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OUR STORY
Netsafe is New Zealand’s independent, non-profit online safety organisation. We provide online safety help, support, expertise and education to people in New Zealand. We’ve been around for almost 20 years, and there’s a bit of history behind how we got to where we are today.
Netsafe was founded in 1998 to help New Zealand internet users stay safe online.
It was well before smartphones were smart, or media had learned to be social but it was clear new technologies were connecting New Zealand internet users to new opportunities and challenges.
After noticing the growing influence of technology in their respective areas, the New Zealand Police, Ministry of Education and several not for profits teamed up with telecommunication organisations and IT industry partners to create an independent body focussed on online safety.
Together they created the Internet Safety Group (rebranded Netsafe in 2008).
Netsafe was given the remit to build an internet safety organisation that didn’t scare people away from technology. Instead we encouraged people to adopt it by promoting the tools and techniques they could use to minimise their online risks.
Thanks to our positive technology stand, pragmatic approach and innovative campaigns, Netsafe has been at the forefront of internet safety and security and received awards for our efforts too. More importantly we’ve provided support, education and advice to thousands of New Zealand internet users and helped resolve many online safety and security complaints.
We have some of the strongest relationships in the business and collaborate with government, law enforcement, industry and community organisations in New Zealand and around the world to achieve the best outcomes for internet users.
Today Netsafe is an internationally renowned independent not for profit organisation with an unrelenting focus on online safety practice. And our knowledge across all areas of digital challenge is unique.
Our expertise and experience underpinned Netsafe’s appointment as the agency to receive, assess and investigate complaints about online bullying, harassment and abuse under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015.
As digital technology use grows and evolves at a rapid pace in society, it becomes more important for Netsafe to help people manage and reduce the risk of online harm, so that they feel more confident being online.
netsafe.org.nz
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- Jeff |
