I believe that outing the scammers, with as many details as seem relevant, is worthwhile, a real service to the community. We need to be cautious when we are dealing with the nuances -- true NOS or near mint? lightly polished case or untouched? service crown or original? -- but when we are dealing with outright fraud, then there is little concern about libel. The folks stealing the fraudulently-induced bank wire transfers or shipping the empty envelopes aren't bringing the suits for libel . . . they are moving on to the next scam.

In terms of how much information about the scammers / scams we present, the reality is that most of the names and addresses may be made up, in any event. So too, the details of the watches or other merchandise may be purely fictional (or stolen from legitimate websites). Perhaps the only genuine information will be the bank account that is receiving the funds or the identity of the PayPal or Western Union recipient, etc. So it seems to me that if you are entirely certain that you have detected a fraud, then presenting more information is useful . . . just in case the fraudster gets lazy and uses the same details again. But the key to all this is only outing the scammer after we are absolutely certain that we have detected a scam. As has been pointed out, once you accuse someone of fraud on the internet, it is difficult to remove the accusation.

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Outing the scammers -- libelous or laudable?

: being discussed on ChronoTrader --
: http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/chronotrader/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=19766

: happy that a previous discussion seems to have prevented a crime.

: Jeff