On Twitter, Méta-Brouteur shares the wacky stories in which he leads grazers, these Internet users who try to defraud the most fragile. The jokester with a vast imagination traps the crooks with his burlesque scenarios. The resulting exchanges are hilarious. Meeting with the crook-crook who laughs at web thieves.
On the internet, beware of pitfalls. The network is reputed to spoof a number of scams of all kinds. But it happens that the crooks fall on smarter than them. And then, everything is reversed: the trapper becomes the trapped. This is the hobby of an increasingly popular surfer on Twitter.
In life, his name is David, father, employed in aeronautics. On the blue bird social network, he is Meta-Brouteur, a specialist in modern-day pranks. ” With a little side Laurent Baffie or Jean-Yves Lafesse he smiles. After the jokes in the street, on television, on stage or on the phone, Méta-Brouteur moves the playing field on the internet and social networks. Where grazers move, these targets.
Browsers, as a reminder, are online scammers who pretend to be people they are not. They approach Internet users, try to make contact and end up asking or demanding money. A criminal activity that knows no crisis. And sometimes, they come across specimens like David, aka Meta-Brouter.
Arsene Lupine online
For a little over ten years he has been playing with the grazers who most often operate from West Africa. Méta-Brouteur first discovered the videos of Mozinor, a YouTuber famous for his jokes. In one, Mozinor parodied a report on grazers. ” He showed how he had fun with the characters, how he drove them crazy “, he recalls.
David laughs and gets caught up in the game: “ I found it amazing, a little Arsène Lupine side too. It was funny. For him, a fan of role-playing games, the hobby is all found. This is how he embarked on this 100% fun parallel activity: trapping grazers.
In July 2020, when he already had a solid experience for him, David launched himself on Twitter and created the Meta-Brouter account. THE threadsthese series of tweet which follow each other, prove to be a good way to share the hilarious exchanges in which it has attracted the less experienced grazers.
Its nuggets are countless. To a grazer who asks him ” Where are you from ? “, he answers with false naivety” I am sweet and very nice “. Later, he explains to her: I am an oncologist: I specialize in the sign of cancer in astrology “. ” It’s really a very good job! “, replies his interlocutor who fell into the trap. In another trap, Méta-Brouteur reassures a grazer by sending him his identity card, on which his name is Maurice Emile Louis Chevalier, has the face of Louis de Funès, was born in Saint-Trop-Pied and lives on avenue of Tatooine…
The signs of deception may be enormous, but some grazers are gullible and get lost in pointless discussions. Invariably, they end up asking for money. And of course, they don’t get anything… because Meta-Brouteur always has a twist to invent to avoid it. His fans, more and more numerous, laugh as much as him. While he had around 10,000 followers on Twitter in the summer of 2022, the comic 2.0 broke the 50,000 follower mark six months later.
” Anyone can be fooled »
Méta-Brouteur is not the first to play croque-crooks. ” The Anglo-Saxons have been doing this since the beginning of the internet “, he recalls. Previously, the scam existed by mail or fax, especially in Nigeria from where the Yahoo Boys, predecessors of today’s grazers, operated. ” Before me, there were also forums of ”crook-crooks” who did it very well. They were a source of inspiration. At first, I spent hours reading their publications “continues David.
There are many online scammers and Méta-Brouteur is aware of being ” a drop in the ocean of grazers “. He insists on debunking the idea that everyone is naive, as his pranks might lead one to believe: ” They are not necessarily clowns. Some are doing very well in French, in computers, and even speak fluent Spanish. And some are trading on the side. »
Prevention work remains the best weapon to avoid scams. ” Anyone, including me, can be fooled “says David. So pay attention to the overconfidence “, even if it should not ” not become paranoia “. Méta-Brouteur also does not want to judge grazers too harshly, most of whom come from underprivileged backgrounds: “ I don’t seek humiliation, I stay in the hoax. »
No question of taking yourself for a hero either. Meta-Brouter wants “ just laughing “. ” Honestly, I have no sense of justice “, he insists. It leaves the authorities their prerogatives, although, as our colleagues from France Info, grazers are rarely worried. David is content just to know that ” some victims see it as a form of revenge “. He says : ” So much the better if it helps them mourn their history. And… that makes me laugh. That’s the most important thing.