Scam Types
Scam baiters: what their videos reveal about each scam
Scam baiters are people who keep scammers talking on purpose. They play a believable victim, waste the scammer’s time and record the conversation. Three of the best-known scambaiter channels on YouTube, Kitboga, Jim Browning and Scammer Payback, publish those recordings. Watched with the right question in mind, a clip shows the scammer’s script from the other side of the line, so you recognize the same moves when the call is for you.
Last reviewed: October 13, 2026 · Drafted with AI assistance. Every video link, title and channel was checked against YouTube on the date above. Not yet reviewed by a human editor.
What is scam baiting?
Scam baiting means answering a scammer on purpose and playing along as a potential victim, to waste their time and to expose how the scam works. A scambaiter usually works the phone: a fake pop-up number, a “refund department”, a caller claiming to be from the government. A romance scam baiter works the other end, answering fake profiles on social media and dating apps instead.
For the rest of us, the value is not the entertainment. It is that the recordings show the scammer’s side of a script that victims normally only hear one line of at a time. Each clip below was picked for one scam type this site already covers, with a note on what to watch for and a link to the full guide.
The links open YouTube in a new tab. This page embeds no videos, so nothing loads from YouTube until you click. None of the creators are affiliated with ScamPreventionGuide.com.
Should you try scam baiting yourself?
No. This page does not encourage anyone to bait scammers. A scam call is a conversation designed by professionals to get money, personal details or access out of the person on the other end, and every minute you stay on the line is a minute they get to work on you. The safest answer is the boring one: hang up. That is also the Federal Trade Commission’s advice for a caller who claims to be from the government: hang up and call the agency directly at a number you know is correct.
Some well-known baiters go further than talking, and get into the scammers’ own computers and camera systems. Whatever you think of that, it is not something to copy. In the United States, accessing a computer you are not allowed to access is the core of federal computer-crime law, as the Department of Justice’s guidance on prosecuting it sets out.
Which clip shows which scam?
One clip per scam type, each linked to this site’s guide to that scam:
Tech support scams: who is really on the other end?
The clip: Spying on the Scammers [Part 1/5], Jim Browning. In his description, Browning explains that when a scammer connected to his PC, he reversed the connection and discovered that they had CCTV. According to the same description, the operation was a travel agency in Delhi using its buildings and VoIP phone lines to run various scams. He shared the footage with the BBC’s Panorama, and the series runs to five parts.
What it teaches you: the friendly “technician” is staff in a call centre, not Microsoft or Apple. Watch for the moments the FTC lists as the scam itself:
- Legitimate tech companies won’t contact you by phone, email or text message to tell you there’s a problem with your computer.
- Real security pop-ups never ask you to call a phone number.
- Once you are on the phone, the impersonators ask for remote access to your computer and pretend to scan it for viruses.
Full guide: Tech support scams: how fake calls and pop-ups work.
Remote access scams: what happens once they are in?
The clip: This is why you never let anyone remotely access your computer, Jim Browning. His description calls the callers refund scammers and says the video observes what scammers will do to try to get money out of their victim. He adds that it is not an easy watch.
What it teaches you: a “refund” is the hook, and once someone controls your screen, you can no longer trust what it shows you. The FTC describes the refund version: the scammer takes you to a spoofed website that looks real and tells you to enter your bank or card details to process the refund.
If someone has access to your computer right now, stop reading and go to I let a scammer into my computer — what do I do now?
Romance scams: when does the love story turn into a payment request?
The clip: Sending Facebook Scammers The Wrong Gift Cards, Kitboga. He describes setting up a fake Facebook account to troll romance scammers. The chapter titles tell the arc: a scammer boyfriend, then “Davis Wants Gift Cards”, then a wedding, then the wrong gift cards.
What it teaches you: how an online relationship arrives at a gift card. The FTC’s romance scam guidance names the same moves:
- Romance scammers ask you to put money on gift cards and give them the PIN codes.
- They say they can’t meet you in person.
- Never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven’t met in person.
Full guide: Romance scams: how they work and how to spot them.
Pig butchering: where does the investment end?
The clip: Forcing Scammers To Prove They’re Not Robots, Kitboga. In his description, five investment scammers fall for his trap and have to prove they are human to get the bitcoin. The chapters run from “Pig Butchering Scam” to “Bitcoin Bait” to “Video Verification”.
Kitboga’s own description points viewers on to Jim Browning’s Inside a Pig Butchering Scam, made with someone who, as Browning describes it, infiltrated a pig butchering operation in Dubai and took undercover video and audio. Watch that one for the operation’s side.
What it teaches you: in this scam, the warm conversation is a route to cryptocurrency. The FTC warns that an online love interest may even offer to help you get started in cryptocurrency investing. The CFTC describes what follows: at first you may be encouraged to withdraw some of your profits and invest more, and eventually you are locked out of the account and told to pay more, commonly in fake fees or taxes.
Full guide: Pig butchering scams: how romance and crypto fraud combine.
Vishing: how many scripts can one caller run?
The clip: JACKPOT OF ALL SCAMMERS! (IRS, Social Security, Refund and Technical Support), Scammer Payback. The title names four phone scripts in a single video: the IRS, Social Security, a refund and technical support. The video is from 2019; the FTC’s current advice still names both agencies.
What it teaches you: the name on the call is a costume. The FTC’s guidance on government impersonation gives you the checks:
- Don’t trust your caller ID. It can show a real agency name, such as the Social Security Administration, and still be faked.
- Social Security won’t call, email, text or message you on social media and ask you to pay. The IRS will not call you about your taxes unless you set up an appointment.
- Don’t wire money or use gift cards, cryptocurrency or a payment app to pay someone who says they’re with the government.
Full guide: What is vishing? How to spot phone scams.
Sources
- How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Tech Support Scams, US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- What To Know About Romance Scams, US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- How To Avoid a Government Impersonation Scam, US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- Customer Advisory: Six Warning Signs of Online Financial Romance Frauds, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- Justice Manual 9-48.000: Computer Fraud, US Department of Justice. Accessed October 13, 2026.
- Video titles, channels and descriptions: YouTube, checked October 13, 2026.