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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Scam baiters generally do not make a living by taking money from scammers. They make media: they engage suspected fraudsters, turn the encounter into a livestream or edited video, and earn from viewers, advertising, memberships, sponsorships, and related work. That can support a career for a small number of successful creators, but it is not a predictable side hustle—and the safest versions stop short of hacking or retaliation.
What scam baiting involves
Scam baiting means deliberately engaging a suspected scammer while withholding real credentials, money, and access. A baiter may play a confused or technically inexperienced person, keep the caller occupied, record the exchange, and use the result to explain how the fraud works. Some also report useful evidence to platforms, vendors, or authorities.
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The activity ranges from relatively low-risk time-wasting to technical investigation. Those are not interchangeable: pretending to be a fictional victim is different from entering another person’s computer, collecting data, or disrupting a system. An exploratory study of scam-baiting videos describes this spectrum from wasting scammers’ time and ridicule through collecting information or assets for authorities (study of scam-baiting video entertainment).
Why Kitboga’s format works as entertainment
Tech-support scams lend themselves to long-form performance because the caller often needs a supposed victim to follow a sequence of instructions. That creates room for a character, deliberate misunderstandings, escalating frustration, and a story viewers can follow. Other common formats include fake refund offers, government or tax impersonation, gift-card demands, cryptocurrency schemes, bank-account takeover attempts, and fake antivirus warnings. A responsible video can explain the pressure tactics without publishing a usable script for committing fraud.
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The familiar persona is usually a production choice, not an entirely spontaneous prank. A creator may build a controlled backstory, use voice effects, stage delays, and shape a call into a narrative with a beginning, escalation, and explanation of warning signs. The production work continues afterward: recording, editing, captions, sound, privacy review, and moderation all affect whether the result is useful and publishable.
Kitboga’s career offers a historical example, not an earnings forecast. An Engadget profile published July 30, 2018 described his move from software engineering and part-time streaming toward full-time work after Twitch and YouTube income became enough to cover his mortgage. The profile also discussed his use of personas and virtual machines, and his reluctance to hack scammers. It does not establish his present income or how typical that path is.
Where the income comes from
The commercial product is the audience’s attention and trust, not the scammer’s time. A long call has no automatic financial value: it matters to a creator only if it becomes a compelling, original, responsibly presented piece of media that people watch and support.
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- Livestream support: Subscriptions and viewer payments can reward a creator with a loyal live community.
- Video advertising: Edited videos may earn ad revenue when they meet platform rules and advertiser suitability standards.
- Memberships and fan-funding features: YouTube lists channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks among its commerce features; availability depends on eligibility, geography, and feature access (YouTube Commerce Products policies).
- Sponsorships: Privacy, security, communications, or consumer-technology companies may pay to reach a relevant audience, but the fit must not encourage viewers to confront scammers or imply unsubstantiated protection.
- Merchandise and secondary work: A recognizable character or community may support merchandise, licensing, appearances, interviews, podcasts, or partnerships.
These revenue sources depend on audience scale, repeat viewing, production consistency, and a reputation that viewers and partners trust. They also fluctuate. Platform decisions, copyright claims, advertiser suitability, sponsor demand, and changes in audience interest can all affect income. There is no established universal earnings figure for scam-baiting creators.
YouTube eligibility is only one hurdle
As listed on YouTube’s help page checked August 18, 2026, the principal YouTube Partner Program route for long-form content is 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months; the Shorts route is 1,000 subscribers and 10 million valid public Shorts views in the previous 90 days. Meeting a threshold does not guarantee acceptance: YouTube reviews the channel against its policies (YouTube Partner Program eligibility).
For scam-baiting channels, originality and context matter. YouTube says monetized content should provide original or materially varied value; repetitive or minimally transformed material may be rejected or lose monetization (YouTube channel monetization policies). A sequence of nearly identical calls with little explanation may be weaker than a video that adds clear reporting, analysis, or prevention advice.
Content that appears to scam, mislead, spam, or defraud viewers can violate YouTube’s rules. Enforcement may include monetization restrictions or channel consequences (YouTube Community Guidelines; spam, deceptive practices, and scams policy). Harassment, exposed personal information, copyrighted music, unsupported accusations, and demonstrations of unauthorized access can also create editorial or platform problems. Ad suitability is separate from basic eligibility: videos may receive limited or no ad earnings, and review outcomes can change (YouTube review guidance; advertiser-friendly content guidance).
Safety starts before the call
A creator should treat every interaction as potentially hostile and every recording as a possible source of identifying information. The goal is to make the environment disposable and separate, not to outmaneuver or break into the other party’s systems.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors- Use an isolated test environment, such as a virtual machine where appropriate, rather than a personal computer used for banking, work, or private files.
- Keep the bait environment separate from personal email, phone numbers, accounts, payment methods, and home-network devices. Avoid storing passwords, identity documents, financial details, or personal files in it.
- Disable unnecessary links between the virtual machine and host, such as shared folders and clipboard synchronization, where practical.
- Assume that a caller may record the interaction or try to identify the baiter. Do not disclose personal details, and review recordings for phone numbers, names, account identifiers, IP addresses, wallet addresses, and other sensitive data before publication.
- Keep original evidence separate from the edited entertainment version. If material may be relevant to a report, preserve it securely and avoid altering the original.
- Moderate the audience and explicitly discourage viewers from contacting, threatening, or identifying people shown or heard in a video.
These are containment and privacy measures, not a guarantee of safety. A virtual machine does not make unauthorized access safe or lawful, and a livestream can expose information before a creator has time to review it.
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Where baiting can cross a legal or ethical line
There is no single legal status for “scam baiting.” Consequences depend on what the person does and where the participants are. Recording a call may raise consent or wiretap issues that vary by jurisdiction, especially across borders. Accessing another person’s computer without authorization, extracting data, changing or deleting files, or interfering with services may create criminal or civil exposure. Impersonating law enforcement or a financial institution can add separate risks.
Publication has its own hazards. Naming a person or showing a face, phone number, location, or workplace can expose private information, invite harassment, or create defamation concerns if the evidence is incomplete. A suspected caller may be part of a fraud operation, a low-level employee, or someone whose role has not been established. Collecting money, gift-card codes, or cryptocurrency from an apparent scammer also raises ownership, evidence, and reporting questions; it is not ordinary creator income.
Kitboga told Engadget in 2018 that he rejected hacking as a way to fight scammers. That is a useful ethical boundary, but not a substitute for jurisdiction-specific legal advice. Anyone considering recording calls, conducting technical investigation, or publishing identifying allegations should consult a qualified lawyer familiar with the relevant locations and conduct.
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What scam baiting can—and cannot—do for victims
Keeping a scammer occupied may temporarily reduce the time available to target someone else. Public recordings can help viewers recognize urgency, payment demands, and other manipulation. Reporting evidence may also give platforms, vendors, or authorities information to assess. These are plausible benefits, not proof that one long call materially weakens an operation.
Fraud operations can replace workers, phone numbers, domains, and remote-access accounts. Entertainment edits may omit context, and public exposure can alert scammers to defensive techniques or provoke retaliation. Time spent on a call is not the same as a victim being protected, money being recovered, or an investigation succeeding. The 2018 Engadget profile described Kitboga’s view that awareness and time-wasting could be more useful than hacking individual machines, which scam operations may replace.
The human complication behind the character
Scam-baiting videos often cast the caller as a single villain, but responsibility within a fraud operation can vary. The Engadget profile recounted encounters with workers who said they were poorly paid, misled, or trapped in their jobs, while making clear that such claims do not excuse defrauding victims. A creator cannot reliably establish a caller’s circumstances from a performance or a brief conversation alone.
That uncertainty matters in editing. Humiliation may attract views without helping a victim; revealing an identity may punish the wrong person; and an audience can turn a video into harassment even when the creator did not intend that outcome. A stronger editorial test is whether the material documents conduct accurately, protects uninvolved people, and leaves viewers better equipped to recognize or report fraud.
What an aspiring creator should assess
Scam baiting is a media business with unusually high safety and editorial demands. Before treating it as a career plan, consider whether you can:
- Keep interactions isolated from personal devices, accounts, and identifying information.
- Make original videos with an educational or public-interest value beyond an angry reaction.
- Verify allegations, protect third-party privacy, and preserve original evidence responsibly.
- Understand recording, impersonation, access, and publication risks in the relevant jurisdiction.
- Meet platform policies without relying on repetitive compilations, doxxing, or risky technical escalation.
- Moderate viewers, handle long and often abusive interactions, and produce consistently without escalating cruelty or danger.
- Build an audience and diversify income while accepting that platform revenue and sponsorships are not guaranteed.
The business is possible, as Kitboga’s 2018 account illustrates, but that account is a particular success story rather than a template. The work is not simply making a scammer angry: it is combining performance, production, security, judgment, and audience development into media people value.
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