How To Take Safe Secure Measures Online

This is a running list of services and products that you can use to help put up a wall and mitigate letting scammers getting through to you and even protect your identity. A lot of scam-baiters and cyber security experts have recommended these services and products which are outlined here.

On a side note there are a lot of sites that like to collect our info which is either sold to them through other 3rd parties (data brokers) or by some use of AI and/or BOTs that spider and scrape through publicly available information. Scammers will utilize this information to pretend they have identifiable information and use it as leverage to deceive a possible victim. You can probably find some of your own information on sites such as these noted below.

ThatsThem.com
This is a website that curates information from data brokers on all sorts of ppl. Scammers are known to utilize this particular website to acquire some personal info that makes them look like they have some sort of sensitive information on you. Def don’t want to have your data here.

IDCrawl.com
A “free people search engine” that organizes social network information, deep web information, phone numbers, email addresses and criminal records to help find and learn about people easily.

RocketReach.co
Rocketreach finds email, phone & social media links for 450M+ professionals. Such as connections and links to your social and email accounts, most popular amongst business folks it seems.

Below are recommended services that can help prevent information leaks about your accounts and even notify you to take quick action.

Identity Theft Protection Services

Incogni.com
Thousands of companies are collecting, aggregating and trading your personal data without you knowing anything about it. They make DATA BROKERS remove your information on file.

Guard.io
Believes in a secure browser ecosystem. Forget all about malware, phishing and identity theft. Guardio cleans, protects, and keeps you and your browser safe.

Aura.com
See and prevent personal identifiable info from being leaked online. Aura protects your identity, finances and sensitive data. All plans include a $1M insurance policy that covers eligible losses.

IdentityIQ.com
IdentityIQ is a leader in identity theft protection and credit protection services. Offering credit monitoring, Identity insurance, and antivirus.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

In a nutshell a VPN protects your connection while you’re using the internet. It makes your browsing private, hides your IP (Internet Protocol) address and ensures your internet service provider (ISP) doesn’t track you.

NordVPN.com
Online VPN service that encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP with physical location. They strive to make the internet better than it is today. So it can be free from online threats, censorship, and surveillance, as envisioned in 1989 — the year the World Wide Web was invented. NordVPN was launched by childhood friends in 2012.

SurfShark.com
A secure VPN that encrypts your online data to help you stay private & protected every day, hassle-free. A VPN like Surfshark works by routing your device’s internet connection through your chosen VPNs private server rather than your internet service provider (ISP). By doing so, a VPN changes your visible IP address.

DNS Filtering (Domain Name System)

DNS filtering or blocking describes a cybersecurity measure used to stop internet users from accessing unapproved websites on a server. Organizations use DNS blocking to secure their environment against phishing attacks and other cyberthreats. Through DNS filtering services, businesses assign control over what users can access, limit access to websites potentially posing malware risk, and reduce remediation demands on their IT teams.

CleanBrowsing.org
A content filtering platform where you decide what type of content is allowed on your network that can block access to inappropriate and malicious sites. Over 19 predefined filter categories to quickly block content. Great for families and schools.

Robocall Blockers

Nomorobo.com
Stop annoying robocalls and spam text forever. Automatically protect your phone from scammers, spammers and swindlers. All unwanted calls are blocked (even spoof-protection ones), suspicious callers screened and spam text filtered.

RoboKiller.com
Uses a predictive algorithm, which takes a proactive — not reactive — approach to spam call blocking. It does not wait for customers to report a spam call before blocking one caller at a time. Instead, RoboKiller checks incoming calls for the audio fingerprints of spammers, and shuts them down before your phone even rings — all in less than a millisecond. Then store the audio fingerprint in a global database so scammers can’t strike again..

Password Managers

1Password.com
A password manager, digital vault, form filler and secure digital wallet. 1Password remembers all your passwords for you to help keep account information safe. It is the world’s most-loved password manager and easiest way to store and use strong passwords. Log in to sites and fill forms securely with a single click.

KeeperSecurity.com
Keeper is the top-rated password and secrets manager for protecting businesses and families from cyberthreats. An easy-to-use platform that unifies critical components of Identity and Access Management and enables zero-trust transformation.

LastPass.com
Their secure password manager saves, stores, and organizes all your passwords and logins in a vault encrypted to your device. Easily access and autofill account information all over the web. LastPass Families has all the features you love from Premium, but with 6 licenses to protect your whole family.

DashLane.com
Store and fill in all your passwords, personal information, and payments. Dashlane has never had a security breach in the 10+ years they have been in business. Dashlane is used by 20,000+ companies and 15+ million users.

Credit Card Protection

Privacy.com
Control where, when and how much you can be charged. Create virtual payment cards for one-time purchases or subscriptions, directly from your browser. Set spend limits, pause, unpause, and close cards any time you want.

Scammer Payback | Bringing Awareness About Scams

So summer of 2021 I stumbled upon scambaiter content online. What led me to this was a rather weird interaction I had on Instagram. A fake account was setup on IG with someone posing as a former colleague of mine sending me an invite to connect. When a message came from this account my first thought was, am I friends with this person already? For some reason I did not think at the time to quickly search my connections to confirm if this was true so I carried on a conversation with this person thinking it was them and how thoughtful they were to check in with me. It started to get a little sketchy when they were pretty persistent with me to hit on a link in the message. I was pretty wise enough to listen to my own intuition and do no such thing because I am aware of phishing attacks. Conversation eventually went a little south and just stopped chatting. A day later that person who I thought I was talking to posted on their other social platform explaining that their social media account was hacked. When that suspecting IG account reached out to me again I messaged back that I knew they were a scammer and they slowly retracted all their direct messages from me and either blocked me or deleted their account. Luckily I screen captured the conversation and shared it with that former colleague so they were aware of what content they were sending to their friend list. I was very lucky not to fall victim to anything further than just a brief fleeting conversation but it sure can be bothersome to know that someone tried to take advantage of you.

I must have Google some term on this kind of scam because it brought me to a well known scambait artist known as “Kitboga.” I suspect he is a former MA (Boston / Dorchester / Worcester) native perhaps and possibly lives out of state or in Canada these days because he usually uses a pretty well known Boston area code number when he calls these folks (maybe nostalgic purposes). Certainly cannot mistake that non-rhotic accent too. Some of his YouTube content and streams have been rather funny and educational but nothing more than that. He is a former software engineer but describes himself as an improv online artist and has been doing this kind of line of work since 2017 or so. Mostly his kind of work is to just keep scammers occupied over the phone for long durations of time so that he distracts them from actually scamming a real person. From those interactions he makes video content that is entertaining to an audience just to show what fools these scam-artists are while he is making a well deserved living and income at it as well!

At this point in time I was working on a design passion project when I came across this kind of content. Usually like to listen to stuff in the background while working on a website or app design as I multi-task quite a bit! Who doesn’t during this time!! Had already consumed a lot of my favorite podcasts and just went down the rabbit hole I guess.

YouTube algorithm is quite a funny thing. After racking up quite a few videos for consumption from “Kitboga” another scambaiter came across my feed by the pseudo-name of “Pierogi” who has a YouTube channel called Scammer Payback. I came to watch some of his content and thought the material was educational and yet also addictive to watch.>

In Pierogi‘s videos he engages in scambaiting various kinds of scams from –

There are parts of his videos that are rather funny but he takes it in a completely different direction in dealing with these scammers. He has been climbing in viewership on YouTube (at this point in time in which I am writing this entry, 1.4 million subscribers). He would actually come to be known as the scambaiter that would take retribution by capturing content from these thieves machines to later use and call up potential victims and save them from losing out on their very life-savings from these savage scam-artists.
When that obtainable opportunity arises Pierogi contacts victims directly to warn them that they have been scammed. He will advise them on what to do next in order to minimize the damage caused by the heartless crime that took place, if they choose to accept his help (when time is of the essence). He has helped to recover a lot of money back that the victims have had stolen from them if Pierogi has that window of opportunity with the scammer himself.

Most of these scammers target the elderly but not always. Just after he captures the information from a reverse connection from a scam call he would then delete their files and make their systems quite unusable thereafter. But not only has Pierogi managed to do this kind of justice but has also been able to shut down call center numbers completely, whether for the day or permanently. Which believe it or not has successfully cut down on some spammy phone and email scams! And he is only one person!

If a scammer is somewhat knowledgeable about scambaiters or think they might be talking with one of them they will usually utter Pierogi or “Kitboga” in haste, in the middle of a conversation. Usually to see what kind of reaction they get from the other side. These two guys are like the titans of their industry of scambaiting. You can just about hear how terrified the scammers become if either Pierogi or “Kitboga” decide to reveal themselves. Usually because the scammers are so triggered by past experiences with dealing with either of them, that it left quite a mark. The LIVE stream chats will often describe that these scambaiters have run so many circles around the scammer minds that it sometimes resembles some sort of PTSD experience. Based on the scammers reactions or behaviors they must have had from their interactions, they or the whole call center just completely loses it during the call.

In recent streams “Kitboga” has decided not to reveal himself anymore because the scammers seem to get a thrill out of the possibility of being shown in an upcoming video. Pierogi on the other hand wants to interact with them as they seem to provide really beneficial information. Pierogi does not make it a point to berate them over the phone but to rather ask they become informants. It sometimes rather becomes impossible to get them to come down to his level and just have a calm conversation because their experience with other scambaiters get them so riled up “just for fun” in the first place for entertainment value which is justifiable. However it gets quite interesting until they realize just who is exactly on the other end of the line, that’s when Pierogi can really get down to business with them.

A tell-tale sign that a scammer is speaking directly with Pierogi is when he starts to drop some Hindi throughout the conversation. A majority of the scam call centers he encounters come from that part of the South Asia-Pacific region of the world. So far no other scambaiter has gone this far and makes him stand out among the others. The scammers can no longer insult and talk behind his back and get away with it especially when he understands what they are saying under their breath in frustration or talking with another scammer in the background. He use to rely on translators in the LIVE stream chats but knowing the language himself means Pierogi can quickly gather intelligence and pivot the conversation if the situation changes. Usually when he does this, it irritates the scammers for some reason, as if it’s unlocking some sort of secret code. Pierogi does not just want to learn the language to throw insults back and forth but to be more adaptable and knowledgeable about their culture and maybe have more rapport with them. It has proven to be a useful tool, in addition he has stated that he knows other languages as well.

Pierogi has a very interesting background, he is in his late 30’s and a former Cyber Security / Network Engineer (End-Point) with a bit of a financial background. So he knows a thing or two. He lives somewhere in the US, most likely along the East Coast because most of the stream schedules are noted in eastern time zone. However he usually jokingly says he appears in every scammers dream (safely in a VM somewhere)! It is rather interesting to watch him utilize such critical thinking tactics (social engineering) to get to the information he needs. Just ask for his nifty “funnel” PowerPoint presentation during the stream! Now Pierogi does not quite go all bounty hunter and do further damage himself, so he does his best to acquire information and provide it to connections he has with US federal law enforcement officials who can close the case on some these endeavors that happen here. Sometimes it is a bit sad not to hear exactly what the end story is to some of the victims he either encounters or acquires information about on his LIVE streams. However there are rare occasions that he has been able to work with others in his field and follow the story to the very end and report it in a later video premier.

Also, from what I understand Scammer Payback started sometime back in 2019 on YouTube but Pierogi has been at this for much longer before he engaged filming himself on YouTube as he would do this kind of work after hours from doing his day job. That there sure shows passion and dedication to his craft. In or around the time of C-19 he decided during a call with a scammer that he was going to quit his daytime job and make this his full-time profession going after these bad individuals.

“Pierogi” from “Scammer Payback” has content on both –

YouTube: youtube.com/c/ScammerPayback Twitch: twitch.tv/ScammerPayback

His content is generated a majority of the time from LIVE streams online which can often go on for as long as 4-6 hours in a single day. In addition his streaming schedule which can be anywhere from 3-4 days during the week and does not include additional time to run private streams for subscriber members only groups. Some of the wildest stories have come out of the public LIVE streams and become material that is carefully crafted and edited for his YouTube channel. They present a little entertainment to the viewer but also educate what the scam was about and how to watch out for those scenarios so you do not fall victim to it. It is rather entertaining but there is a purpose.

People are often asking on his LIVE streams how they can get in on this kind of action. To be honest those that do, really should reconsider not messing around in that area and maybe think of launching into a career in IT Cyber Security first. It does take a special set of skills to know how to go about this. Just the fact that he has to use a pseudo-name to keep his identity somewhat private (from being doxed) tells you something right there.
Be it “internet vigilantism”, “white hat hacking”, “cyber mercenaries” or a “keyboard samurai” – people like Pierogi are doing a great service to society by infiltrating these types of criminal activities with the resources and knowledge they have.

HOW TO CONTACT HIM BY EMAIL? Got a scam to report to him. Send it to his “tipline’ inbox > info here

Saving Victim in Real Time: 1,000s of Files Deleted from Scammers Computer!
A Scam Victim’s Story: We give Susan $30,000 that the Scammer Stole

MUSIC There is a bespoke digital album by DRYVE (featuring Fatherdude) for the Scammer Payback channel!
“The Payback (Deluxe)” (released 3/2022) – 12 track ride through synthwave, outrun and 80s synth pop territory, in conjunction with Scammer Payback on track #2 called “Hero”. Includes – “Anywhere in the World”, a remix of “The Payback” as well as instrumental versions of each track.

MERCHANDISE Scammer Payback channel also has a store, so support the work of Pierogi and wear the gear! ScammerPaybackStore.com

INTERVIEW Morning Scam Show w. TAGOW | CJ SCAMS | Impromptu Interview with Pierogi from Scammer Payback

Common Questions