YouTube Rabbit Hole Episode 1: "Pierogi aka Scammer Payback" - Professional Scam-Baiter

The digital era has brought many interesting things to light that we had no idea existed, and in the process, it has also given life to things that didn't. Some of those things are known to catch my eye when I'm scrolling my phone late at night (I suffer from chronic insomnia); today, I'll talk about one in particular.

Here in America, one in every three people receives spam calls or texts every week. Out of that one in three, one in ten is actually scammed and loses money as a result. These scammers primarily prey on the elderly.

"In 2022 alone, Americans lost nearly $40 billion to phone scams, according to the FTC, with tech support scams, IRS scams, and fake refund scams leading the list."

Sometime last summer, I was going through YouTube and saw a video of YouTube user 'Scammer Payback ' who goes by the alias Pierogi. This guy is a cybersecurity expert with years of experience in the field who reverse-engineers scam calls, hacks scammers’ CPU systems, and sometimes recovers stolen data for scam victims. In the end, he deletes what he can and toys with these individuals. Over time, I've seen Pierogi hold live events where he and his band of scam-baiter friends all trap scammers one by one.

Below is one such video:

This guy's doing the Lord's work right here. Just to think that this is a growing business in places like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, or Gurugram, all overly populated and vastly poor cities in India. These scammers work in call centers in shifts to keep their fraudulent operations running around the clock, impersonating companies like Microsoft, Amazon, or Apple and convincing unknowing victims to give them remote access to their computers to fix issues that don't actually exist.

"In some cases, scammers even use 'refund' scams, convincing victims that they’ve been accidentally overpaid, leading the victim to 'return' money they never received in the first place." - Pierogi

These scam call centers pop up in areas where English is prevalent, and labor is cheap. Make no mistake about it: these guys are not stupid. They have an intricate plan and written script to read from that makes the victim think they may have actually done something wrong themselves. Pierogi and his friends get the opportunity to hunt these guys down and play games with them in return.

The video below is of their last live video broadcast:

This guy is my hero.

“The first time I wiped a scammer’s files, it felt incredible,” Pierogi said in a recent interview. “But what’s even better is knowing that I’m helping people who might otherwise have lost everything to these criminals.”

Here are some tips based on Pierogi’s scam-baiting experiences:

• Don’t trust unsolicited calls: If you get a call from someone claiming to be from a big company, like Microsoft or Amazon, and you didn’t reach out to them first, it’s likely a scam.
• Be skeptical of any and ALL pop-ups: Most tech support scams start with a pop-up message warning you of a virus. Legitimate companies don’t send pop-ups asking you to call an actual number for help.
• Never, EVER give remote access: Scammers often ask for remote access to your computer. Once they have it, they can steal your information or plant harmful software. Don’t give it to anyone unless you’re 100% certain of their legitimacy.
• Verify refund requests: If you receive a call or email about a refund you didn’t expect, double-check with the company directly in the way you normally would via official websites, numbers, etc.

While this is just one of the YouTube rabbit holes I've been down and enjoyed, it is one of the most satisfying collections of content I've found and really opened my eyes to the subject and the dilemma that surrounds it.