Book Review: Dot.Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer by James Veitch

Dot.Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer
by James Veitch (817 Vei)

British comedian James Veitch set himself the task of actually replying, positively, to all the scam e-mails he received — Nigerian princes wishing to have help moving large sums of money out of their country, beautiful Russian women seeking companionship, desperate “friends” stuck overseas and needing a loan to be able to return home, and so many more. This book compiles the chains of e-mails back-and-forth between Veitch and several of the scammers, in which Veitch played cat-and-mouse with them, teasing that he was going to give them what they wanted, only to back out after many, many e-mails were shared and responded to.

Veitch is dryly humorous, and the shtick of leading the scammers on is initially funny, but eventually becomes something of a one-note theme. None-the-less, this volume is definitely entertaining, and provided the vicarious thrill of watching him waste enormous amounts of the time these scumbags would have otherwise spent stealing the money of those gullible enough to fall for their malarkey. A fun, light read…just don’t expect any depth from it.

[ official James Veitch web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

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