View source for Scammer Payback

{{Short description|American YouTuber and scambaiter}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox YouTube personality
| name                 = Scammer Payback
| image                = Scammer Payback 2025.jpg
| other_names          = Pierogi
| caption              = Scammer Payback in 2025
| nationality          = American
| occupation           = {{Hlist
| [[YouTuber]]
| [[scambaiter]]
}}
| associated_acts      = {{flatlist|
* [[Mark Rober]]
* [[Jim Browning (YouTuber)|Jim Browning]]
* [[Karl Rock]]
* [[AnyDesk]]
}}
| website              = {{URL|www.scammerpayback.org/}}
| channel_id           = UCC9EjyMN_hx5NdctLBx5X7w
| channel_display_name = Scammer Payback
| years_active         = 2019–present
| genre                = [[Scam baiting]], [[Vigilantism]]
| subscribers          = 8.3 million <!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT UPDATING stats_update BELOW -->
| views                = 1.18 billion<!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT UPDATING stats_update BELOW -->
| module               = {{Infobox Twitch streamer
| channel_name = ScammerPayback
| years_active = 
| followers = 209K
| subbox = yes
}}
| stats_update         = July 2, 2025
| network              = 
| silver_button        = y
| silver_year          = 2020
| gold_button          = y
| gold_year            = 2021
}}
'''Scammer Payback''', also known by his nickname "'''Pierogi'''", is an American [[YouTuber]] and [[Online streamer|streamer]],  who specializes in creating content about [[scam baiting]] against [[phone scams]] and [[Internet scams]]. He works against a variety of scams over the phone, such as [[technical support scam]]s, [[refund scam]]s, [[SSA impersonation scam|social security scams]], and [[IRS impersonation scam]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|first1=Whit|last1=Johnson|first2=Kaitlyn|last2=Morris|first3=Hannah|last3=Prince|title=FBI warns of rise in costly technical support scams|url=https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/fbi-warns-rise-costly-technical-support-scams-94165053|access-date=25 April 2023|website=Good Morning America|language=en}}</ref> He also has a dedicated team working to find numbers which link to different scams, as well as trying to stop other people from being scammed by using reverse connections.

In 2022, Pierogi and his Scammer Payback team made an "anti-scam call center", “The People’s Call Center”, which has had two runs. His team worked with [[AnyDesk]]: a Remote Desktop access software to ban over 2,000 AnyDesk Login [[Identifier|IDs]].

==Career==
Pierogi was born on July 16,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pierogi on X: "The best present ever for my birthday tomorrow would be if you all could come to my premiere. I promise this thing is 🔥🔥🔥."|url=https://x.com/ScammerPayback/status/1548142239217463303|access-date=22 December 2024|website=X|language=en}}</ref> and he previously worked as a cybersecurity professional.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ryan|first=Shannon|date=18 August 2022|title=YouTuber Pierogi targets scammers with 'Scammer Payback' channel, new project|url=https://www.fox7austin.com/news/youtube-pierogi-call-center-scammer-payback-target-scams|access-date=15 August 2023|website=FOX 7 Austin|language=en-US|quote=A former cybersecurity professional}}</ref> He launched his YouTube channel "Scammer Payback" on May 15, 2019, focusing on high-production scam-baiting content in which he pretends to be a scam victim by portraying a variety of characters with the use of a [[voice changer]] to waste the scammers' time and distract them. While distracted, Pierogi uses his expertise in cybersecurity to infiltrate the scammers' [[computer network]]s from his [[virtual machine]], and proceeds to delete their files and gather their location and information to expose and use against them.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Baleegh|first=Mohammed|date=7 June 2022|title=Hyderabad: Online scammers call cops after getting exposed|url=https://www.siasat.com/hyderabad-online-scammers-call-cops-after-getting-exposed-2343771/|access-date=12 April 2023|website=[[The Siasat Daily]]|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=tnn>{{cite web|date=7 June 2022|title=American YouTuber busts scam call centre in Hyderabad|url=https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/crime/american-youtuber-busts-scam-call-centre-in-hyderabad-article-92052496|access-date=12 April 2023|website=TimesNow|language=en}}</ref> Throughout his career, Pierogi has been able to stop numerous scams in progress and give money back to scam victims.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|last=Ryan|first=Shannon|date=18 August 2022|title=YouTuber Pierogi targets scammers with 'Scammer Payback' channel, new project|url=https://www.fox7austin.com/news/youtube-pierogi-call-center-scammer-payback-target-scams|access-date=11 April 2023|website=FOX 7 Austin|language=en-US}}</ref> He is known to read out the scammer's real name and location that he has discovered through the process.<ref name=tnn/>

Pierogi has been in a number of collaborations with other content creators, having worked alongside [[Mark Rober]], [[Trilogy Media]], and [[Jim Browning (YouTuber)|Jim Browning]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Webster|first=Sophie|date=24 April 2021|title=Mark Rober, a Former NASA Scientist Turned YouTuber Content Creator That Engineered Glitterbomb Packages|url=https://www.techtimes.com/articles/259502/20210424/mark-rober-former-nasa-scientist-turned-youtuber-content-creator-engineered.htm|access-date=12 April 2023|website=Tech Times}}</ref> In 2022, Pierogi and his team set up an anti-scam call center dedicated to scam baiting. Named the "People's Call Center", its participants consisted of Pierogi and several other scambaiters who spent one week at the call center monitoring scam call centers, wasting the scammers' time, and preventing people from getting scammed. This has now become somewhat of a yearly tradition, with the "People's Call Center" making a return in both 2023, 2024, and 2025.<ref name=":2" />

==See also==
* [[Scam baiting]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/@ScammerPayback Scammer Payback's YouTube channel]
* {{cite web|url=https://time.com/7021745/the-age-of-scams/|title=Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams|author=Semuels, Alana|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=September 18, 2024|archive-date=September 18, 2024|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240918173146/https://time.com/7021745/the-age-of-scams/}}

{{Scams and confidence tricks|state=}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scammer Payback}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American hackers]]
[[Category:American YouTubers]]
[[Category:Fraud in India]]
[[Category:YouTubers from Florida]]
[[Category:Social engineering (security)]]
[[Category:Internet vigilantism]]
[[Category:YouTube channels launched in 2019]]
[[Category:English-language YouTube channels]]
[[Category:Unidentified people]]
[[Category:Hacking in the 2020s]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]