Transmedia Storytelling and Online Representations -- Issues of Trust on the Internet

In this paper we present an alternative way to raise awareness about online advance-fee fraud scams, by exploring the extent to which concepts of Tran media storytelling are adaptable in representing a scam bait - the practice of scamming a scammer. Both scammers and scam baiters take advantage of the anonymity that Internet affords. By investigating their practices we can question the trust that is put into online representations. To understand the concept of scamming and scam baiting, the motives of scammers, victims and scam baiters are presented in this paper. Tran media storytelling can be very immersive and has successfully been adapted to fictional story worlds. Yet, what happens when Tran media concepts are adapted to documentation material and blended with fictional characters? With the help of an example - the "Re: Dakar Arts Festival" - we illustrate how a documented scam bait evolved into a transmedia story, unfolding over several media channels: an art installation, online on various social media platforms, a video trailer, as a card game and as a scam bait kit. This case study presents the challenges that emerge when both fiction and reality are blended into a transmedial narratology.