Instead of worrying about how to go after people like pirate, how about worrying about how stupid people are to fall for such a thing in the first place?
If you give your money to someone you never met, who won't even tell you how he is investing it, but claims unrealistic returns, than frankly, you deserve to lose your money.
+1 This post pretty much sums up the solution to the whole pirate drama.
Not sure how you get around the "give your money to someone you never met" part though in the 99% of internet transactions where BTC is actually useful? If you can trust a web vendor to sell you a TV in BTC, you should be able to trust a banker (pirate) who has a network of other bankers (goat, giga, patrick, hashking, etc) using their services, not to mention the tons of representative "assets" on the main BTC exchange GLBSE. The pro-pirate posts on the forums outnumbered the con posts 10 to 1, and the cons were always ripped apart. This was not simply "give your money to someone you never met" in the general sense. Everyone trusted pirate because the long-time high post count "bankers" here that should have been "in the know" did.
I don't think you can call the general population stupid on this one. I think that designation should be reserved for the pros that should have known better. Many of which will come out ahead, despite the default.
Err... for me, personally, trust takes years to earn. I still refuse to use any online wallet or exchange. I don't trust anyone on these forums and probably never will.
On the other hand, I've done lots of business over the years with newegg.com, and if they started accepting Bitcoins today, I would happily make a purchase.
So, two scenarios (that I can think of) will result in trusted Bitcoin businesses. Either already trusted businesses will start accepting Bitcoin, or new Bitcoin businesses will have to build trust over the years, proving they are reliable. The second one is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, but there are obviously far more trusting people than me willing to be the guinea pigs!
On the internet, most nobody knows me from Adam, whereas in Sandwich, Illinois, most people know me or, at the very least, of me. That said, when I started the ball rollin' for Bitcoin100, I could have easily taken control of the funds, but thoutht it important to remove myself as the keeper-of-the-coins. I probably could use the klout I've built up to date, albeit a light shade of orange, and build some kind of scheming site, but can't, because I probably would be able to be found wherever I go if hiding is part of the business plan. These guys coming here and doing the scamming seem to have been building their fake social networks for over a year now, some for the sole purpose of duping Bitcoiners, and others for what ever the next big thing is, and Bitcoin just happened to fit the bill. Those same scammers are probably still building social network connections for later use, whether they'll involved Bitcoin or not.
~Bruno~