Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire why do Nigerian scammers say they're from Nigeria? (Warning - math heavy)

Math Heavy PDF

You'd think this was self-evident, but now Microsoft has finally provided the math to back it up:

Nigerian/419/advance-fee scammers say so up front in order to weed out the non-gullible, and get the only the most gullible recipients to self-select.

Considering that the cost per e-mail reply to the scammer is more than zero, it's helpful to him/her to pre-select for those most likely to pay off by:

a) saying he's from Nigeria
b) using poor grammar
c) including typos, etc.



So, there you are.

Carry on (non-gullibly)

Matt;
I trust that this finds you and your fine family doing acceptably well this evening sir.

We used to get one of those "Nigerian" based scams about every other month at work, but the new anti-spam/virus program we've got now seems to have cut them out. I'm sorry that I've no clue as to which ones we use there.

Anyway Matt, it's nice to see you posting again sir.

All the best to you and yours this Fourth of July Matt.

Dwayne

So you're saying I didn't really win the European Lottery?

No,sorry. I won it.

Dwayne,

Good to see you about! Wish your family all the best.

Good to see you about Matt!

A friend of my mother's lost thousands in the early 1990s to a Nigerian scammer. It was the classic Nigerian scam of a prince who needs the help of Americans to get his money out of the country, or some such. He always needed just a few hundred dollars more to finalize the deal and make her rich. I think she was wiring them money for years. This was back when it was done by telephone, before it became an internet thing. She was always trying to get my mom to join in with her in becoming super wealthy by just putting in a few hundred dollars. She wouldn't listen to anyone who told her it was a scam.

I think that the FBI should answer these emails. They should provide so many answers that it is impossible for the scammers to find the real answers.

They say they're from Nigeria because the Kenyan cornered the market on fraud.

Dan

And it's what the Master Scammer's in RUSHKIE tell them to say.

Gunner

A few years ago a guy from Boise got involved with one of these. He went so far as to actually go to Nigeria to collect his riches. He got lucky. He only lost $5k and actually got home alive. Others haven't been so lucky.

Gosh damn, that Dude should have sold something else and bought a powerball ticket on his safe return.

Gunner

My common sense explanation of this to people has always run thusly:

With all of the people in the world, if a rich Nigerian (prince/warlord/dictator/used car salesman) died, why and how would they know to contact ME?

In the same way that if I died, I would hope my kids wouldn't find some random person in India to distribute the remainder of my checking account to.

People have to be really, really, really stupid to fall for these things.

We are updating our records and need to verify the information we have for you on file. Please verify for me us your current address (including full middle name, and maiden name - if applicable). Also include your birth date (some people have noticed errors in that portion of the record we have on file for them), as well as your Social Security number (this will help us to make sure your account stays secure; this is an area where accuracy is very important to your account security). We also need three account numbers you are presently using in order to establish your good credit standing. Please provide bank account numbers for any checking or savings accounts you have as well as your regularly used credit card accounts. (I We don't need all of them; three is sufficient to clean you out . And one last thing, in order to verify who you really are, we'll need your mother's maiden name, your best friend's name from childhood, the name of the first school you attended, your place of birth, the name of your favorite pet, and your first child's middle name - or what it will or would have been. To protect your security, you can PM the info if you prefer.

Have a great day and thanks for being my our best sucker customer!

Thaks for the post

http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm

A fun read.

http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/


this guy use to have some fun with them.

All these scams are so frickin obvious that for me, you get suckered, you deserved it, go back to grade school and learn some simple lessons... P.T. Barnum was SO right.....

To you or me they are obvious, but to some widowed 70 year old shut-in living with 10 cats they might not be so obvious. Her only access to the outside world might be the internet and reality gets distorted when you view the world through a computer screen. It's really no different than scams like Oral Roberts "send me 8 million dollars or God's going to call me home", or the likes of Benny Hinn, just a different twist on the same theme. They both play on the desire to either get rich quick or get into heaven, all it takes is to send them some money and they'll make it happen.

My mother is 94, widowed, and she spends quite a bit of time every day on the web. She laughs at these scams and thinks anyone who falls for one is a complete idiot.