Some people are so tired of getting spam e-mail offers from Nigerian officials wanting their help in loading piles of cash found in trunks that they're fighting back: They take the time to scam the scammers.

Anyone with an online mailbox knows the "419" scam, so called for the section of Nigerian codes dealing with payments in advance: Someone in Nigeria, or South Africa, or some other foreign country, has found money, or discovered an illegal bank account, or come across money that needs to be gotten out of the country. He or she needs your help -- and, eventually, a payment of several thousands of dollars to help with the wire transfer to your bank account. (Send along that number, too, won't you?)

Within the last year or so, scam-baiting sites have sprung up. They recount stories of people who had the time to try to scam the scammers, which usually included getting the scammer to send a picture of himself or herself looking as ridiculous as possible. "A picture," one scam-baiter told a reporter, "is really the icing on the cake."

The more ridiculous the pose, the more valuable the picture of the scammer -- which is posted on the Internet on the scam-baiter's Web site. One such site, Scam-o-rama (www.scamorama.com) managed to convince a scammer, after a lengthy exchange of e-mail, to pose with a pineapple on his head. (The picture can be found at www.scamorama.com/pineapple.html.)

The scam-baiter terms it "a trophy photo."

Nigerian officials announced last month that the government's Economic and Financial Crime Commission had detained more than 500 suspects and seized property and assets worth more than $500 million in U.S. dollars. Commission Chairman Nuhu Ribadu said more than 100 cases were in various stages of prosecution, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

The government also has announced it is implementing software that will help catch scammers who use e-mail. The software can identify key words from the letters, and will be available to Internet-service providers and government departments.

The news agency reported that a South African Interpol spokeswoman said South Africa alone reported about 60 cases of the advance-fee (419) frauds each day.

Banks and retailers doing business online have a new tool to protect their customers. A spokeswoman for Global Hauri, a virus-eradication publisher, said its LiveCall Suite program, installed on a merchant's machine, will check a customer's computer for malicious software that might allow for recording keystrokes or surreptitiously send information to another computer.

"Hauri developed LiveCall to address the problem of increased identity theft through Trojan keystroke-tracking programs on users' PCs," the spokeswoman said, and added that the software could also be used by Internet-service providers to keep the vast population of home PCs clean of this kind of threat.

This month, a California law took effect that requires companies to alert their California customers if hackers or employees steal information that could be used for identity theft.

"Because companies are required to comply regardless of where they're headquartered, we believe the California law will lead to a nationwide increase in firms reporting hacking incidents and will inspire companies to take additional security measures in order to avoid the hassle and publicity of such disclosures," said Eric Kwon, chief executive officer for Global Hauri, in a release.

Lonnie Brown is The Ledger's associate editor. He can be reached by e-mail at LonnieB001@aol.com.

By: Lonnie Brown