Cited on HN 4 times, 2023–2025, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN discusses it as a creative scambaiting example, often for specific funny details like the scammer repeating the maze 127 times.
Kitboga builds an elaborate automated phone maze with fake captchas, hold loops and absurd support to trap scammers for days. It also covers how this protects potential victims by wasting scammers' time.
“It took the scammer 127 tries to complete the maze, and then we reset it, so he had to do it again.” (HN, 2023)
3 citations · 1 critical · Demos · news from the time
So, I'm not sure but I think what's going on is that a scammer calls and asks the "victim" (in this case, Kitboga) to transfer funds into one of their Bitcoin wallet addresses. This can be done via a Bitcoin ATM which will then print out a receipt which the scammer asks the victim for a picture of (see [0]). As Kitboga says, the scam normally has to end at this point because the scammer can easily verify whether the receipt is fake or not. So, instead, Kitboga and his team created a fake receipt that takes the scammer to the web and call center labyrinth, promising them they can redeem the Bitcoin at the end. Third party Bitcoin management entities are kind of common now, I guess, so this doesn't raise any big red flags? [0] [this video]
Yep, I know it could only invite more trouble. It was fun to fantasize about though, especially after watching the video I linked to in the post: [this video]
Inspired fantasies of retaliating against attackers
I've never quite understood this sort of anti-scammer content and what its appeal is to readers. There are a million YouTube videos and other articles out there that explain, analyze, as well as mock[1] and denigrate scammers - who are essentially modern day slaves [2]. [1]: [this video] [2]: [link]
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