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To make sure grandmas like his don't get conned, he scams the scammers

By Emma Bowman Monday, April 15, 2024 • 5:00 AM EDT The gentle voice of an elderly woman named Edna is heard over the phone. "I'm going to call Ticketmaster and see if we can get us some tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, OK?" she says.

To his 1.2 million Twitch followers — a count he's doubled on YouTube — he's shed light on some of the most rampant and costliest cyber threats, from tech support and gift card fraud, to pig butchering scams. The bot was an early scam baiter: Lenny wastes the time of spammers and scammers as the recorded voice of a forgetful old man spits out lines prompted by pauses on the other end. Cindy, who at 64 is on the older side of the scam baiter's predominately millennial viewership, has since joined Kit's team of volunteers, helping promote his content and keep track of his anti-scam sagas.

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