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Journalist brilliantly trolls email scammer with Jason Bourne's passport

So cheeky.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on September 1, 2017

Trolling email scammers is nothing new, in fact there's a whole lotta literature about it (not to mention Mashable's "Scamalot" series).

But this journalist wins the prize for the cheekiest, most ingenious response ever.

"An email scammer kept asking for a copy of my passport so I sent him this and he is extremely upset about it," tweeted Josh Billinson.

Attached, a passport picture of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in the eponymous film series. The joke is even more enraging for the scammer as Bourne is not Damon's character's real name.

In the first instalment, Damon's character is a killer in search of his real identity. He goes through his safety deposit box at the Swiss Bank, and he finds several passports. The first US passport he opens has the name Jason Bourne, which he assumes thereafter:

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We can understand then why the scammer, who replies with the name of Richard Hummel, says in capital letters: "I DO NOT THINK THAT I WILL CONTINUE THE BUSINESS WITH YOU BECAUSE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU IS FALSE, I AM SORRY I DO NOT TRUST YOU IN THIS BUSINESS."

However, cheeky Billinson doesn't hold off, and asks the guy if they can still be friends.

That's his response: