I started Keep Safe On The Net in 2001.  I was an IT teacher, teaching adults and I used to run a workshop for voluntary sector organisations teaching them how to protect their computers online.

It’s hard to imagine now that in those days, viruses and malware were new and many people didn’t even know about anti-virus software or how to stay safe online.   Things were changing so fast that I registered the domain name as a place to upload the handouts, so the organisation I was working with didn’t have to reprint them every time I ran the workshop.

When the workshop ended, I was left with the domain name, which I turned into an anti-scam blog.  For several years it was very popular – there was little competition and people read blogs.

Fast forward 15 years or so – people no longer read blogs.  Videos are the name of the game.  Then lockdown arrived.  Being an impulsive person I woke up one morning and thought “I’m going to start a YouTube channel”.

I had no idea what I was doing and no idea what type of content to make.  So I continued with the same content I’d been putting on the blog.  Warning videos about fake bank emails, fake paypal emails, 419 scam emails.  All the things that no-one was interested in!

Then I decided to make a video about some of the comments people had left, telling how they had fallen victim to scammers.  That’s when the channel started getting views.

I already had one alter-ego – Annie.  She used to email 419 scammers.  She started posting and baiting on Facebook and it wasn’t long before a whole host of characters were created to add variety.

Annie and the other “girls” bait romance scammers and crypto scammers.  Crypto currency scams are an increasing problem with many victims losing large amount of money – as do many romance scam victims.

On the channel we have videos where romance scam and crypto scam victims tell their stories, as a warning to others.

We have many videos where one of my girls will bait a scammer mercilessly until they give up or get blocked.

We have longer baits where more experienced scammers are engaged for a whole series of videos.  More recently I have involved fellow scambaiters, as (fake) family members so that a team of scambaiters work on the hapless scammer.

The aim of the videos is to raise awareness so that fewer people fall victim to these ruthless, persistent, bullying scammers.  Most scammers will stop at nothing to get as much money as they can from their victim.

I often use humour to engage viewers.  Not because I think scamming is funny – it isn’t – it destroys lives.  But because many of the inexperienced and novice scammers are just ridiculous and unintentionally funny.