The Norwegian daily Aftenposten published a story one of these so-called baiters Thursday.

Organized crime
The number of Internet scams has increased immensely the last couple of years and Norwegians are exposed to everything from Nigerian letters to fake bills. The swindle is often difficult to reveal, and they are often organized by crime organizations.

Several Norwegians are now using their spare time to reveal the swindlers’ scams, bombard them with emails and questions, and try to stop false banks established by swindlers from tricking you to give with your account number and personal information.

«Hans» is one of the 4,800 so-called baiters in a world wide network called 419, named after the swindle paragraph in the Nigerian Penalty Code.

Death threats
«Hans» has already received several death threats from criminals who are far from pleased by the work he does, however, he does not fear for his own safety.

«I take my precautions,» he said to the paper. «I never give my real name, address, or home country, and I always use web based email accounts which I close down after a short period of time.»

However, it is a certain risk involved. An American was killed by Nigerian mob last year after making fun of them via email as responds to a swindle attempt.