Email scammers are the worst people in the world, and Re:Scam is a program that hopes to give them a taste of their own medicine. The email-based chatbot from New Zealand cybersecurity firm Netsafe uses artificial intelligence to distract email scammers, tricking them into wasting their time exchanging emails with a chatbot rather than moving on to more victims.
When a sophisticated internet user receives a scam email, they typically delete it and move on. This allows the scammer to move on to their next target unimpeded. Instead, Netsafe is encouraging people to forward scam emails to me@rescam.org, at which point the Re:Scam bot takes over. It will automatically respond to scammer emails, providing them with just enough of a bite to keep them interested without actually giving them anything of value.
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