Combating Online Fraud
In a remarkable effort to combat online fraud, a popular streamer on YouTube and Twitch, known as Kitboga, has ingeniously orchestrated an elaborate scheme that has led to the entrapment of online scammers for nearly 4,000 hours. This innovative method disguises itself as a fake Bitcoin ATM, expertly designed to stem the tide of cryptocurrency scams by wasting scammers’ time while collecting vital information.
Insights from Kitboga
Kitboga, who operates under a pseudonym, shared insights with Decrypt about this strategy which not only frustrates scammers but also provides a wealth of intel that can be utilized to take action against them. His team of 12 members actively seeks out these scammers, often posing as unsuspecting victims to engage them in conversation. By keeping scammers on the line and creating engaging content, Kitboga aims to capture critical details on their operations.
The Fake Bitcoin ATM Scheme
The scammers frequently attempt to convince their targets to send money via Bitcoin ATMs, prompting Kitboga’s creation of a counterfeit receipt from one of these machines. He elaborated,
“Bitcoin ATMs allow you to deposit cash and receive cryptocurrency in exchange. Scammers leverage this method as a quick way to extract money from victims, expecting to receive a receipt.”
In a clever twist, Kitboga’s receipt leads to a non-existent cryptocurrency exchange, tricking the scammers into a drawn-out process.
Engaging Scammers
With this approach, Kitboga has trapped around 500 scammers within a digital labyrinth for a total of 164 days and 17 hours—equivalent to almost 4,000 hours. On average, a scammer spends close to three hours navigating this seemingly endless maze, with one particularly persistent individual occupying themselves for an incredible 156 hours, or over six days, chasing after the nonexistent Bitcoin.
The maze includes a series of frustrating tasks designed to keep the scammers engaged, such as CAPTCHAs that ask ludicrous questions—like estimating how many nuts are in a bucket or the height of a wave. To further elevate the challenge, Kitboga is currently inviting his followers to create CAPTCHAs that only serve to waste even more of a scammer’s precious time.
Complications and Challenges
The process intensifies when the scammers are eventually prompted to enter their Bitcoin wallet address into the system, an action that leads to dead ends and requires them to call a dedicated 1-800 hotline. As Kitboga explained, this hotline is fraught with complications: scammers are subject to a perplexing automated menu, repeatedly misheard, and often placed on hold indefinitely.
“We leave them on hold for hours with ridiculous phrases they must repeat, which ensures they can’t scam anyone else in the meantime,”
he noted.
A Personal Mission
This ongoing fight against scam operations is not merely a pastime for Kitboga; he considers it a calling rooted in personal experience. Eight years ago, witnessing a video where a tech support scammer grew increasingly frustrated with an elderly person hit home for him, as he reflected on his grandparents’ susceptibility to scams due to their cognitive decline. From that moment, he saw every minute he tied up a scammer as a minute they weren’t scamming someone more vulnerable.
From Hobby to Full-Time Streaming
Initially, Kitboga engaged in these antics as a weekend hobby, sharing his exploits with friends. However, word spread when one of his videos went viral on Reddit, swiftly propelling him to full-time streaming while amassing millions of followers across social platforms. His impressive reach now includes 3.74 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million followers on Twitch.
Raising Awareness
Beyond entertainment, Kitboga’s operation emphasizes the importance of awareness around scams, actively shedding light on their intricacies while offering a humorous distraction to his audience. His guiding mantra remains focused on protection—after all, every scammer he ties up is one less targeting innocent victims.
