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Nigerian scammer openly say they are from Nigeria - but why?
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I know that a significant part of Nigerian scammers are indeed working from Nigeria.
A scam starts with exchanging messages. Physical contact is not to be expected.
It is widely known that scammer often say they are from Nigeria, so often so that the countries name is burned for this purpose. That must be known in Nigeria, at least to scammers.
I would expect that a scammer pretends to be from a different country. It would make it harder to "proof" that he is indeed from that country. He is in control of the conversation, and has much chances to prevent the proof, or fake it.
Some of the scammers may be elsewhere, and pretend to be in Nigeria only. But "Nigeria" is burned for him also.
So, what prevents a Nigerian spammer from not disclosing the country he works from?
scams money-laundering nigeria
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I know that a significant part of Nigerian scammers are indeed working from Nigeria.
A scam starts with exchanging messages. Physical contact is not to be expected.
It is widely known that scammer often say they are from Nigeria, so often so that the countries name is burned for this purpose. That must be known in Nigeria, at least to scammers.
I would expect that a scammer pretends to be from a different country. It would make it harder to "proof" that he is indeed from that country. He is in control of the conversation, and has much chances to prevent the proof, or fake it.
Some of the scammers may be elsewhere, and pretend to be in Nigeria only. But "Nigeria" is burned for him also.
So, what prevents a Nigerian spammer from not disclosing the country he works from?
scams money-laundering nigeria
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I know that a significant part of Nigerian scammers are indeed working from Nigeria.
A scam starts with exchanging messages. Physical contact is not to be expected.
It is widely known that scammer often say they are from Nigeria, so often so that the countries name is burned for this purpose. That must be known in Nigeria, at least to scammers.
I would expect that a scammer pretends to be from a different country. It would make it harder to "proof" that he is indeed from that country. He is in control of the conversation, and has much chances to prevent the proof, or fake it.
Some of the scammers may be elsewhere, and pretend to be in Nigeria only. But "Nigeria" is burned for him also.
So, what prevents a Nigerian spammer from not disclosing the country he works from?
scams money-laundering nigeria
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I know that a significant part of Nigerian scammers are indeed working from Nigeria.
A scam starts with exchanging messages. Physical contact is not to be expected.
It is widely known that scammer often say they are from Nigeria, so often so that the countries name is burned for this purpose. That must be known in Nigeria, at least to scammers.
I would expect that a scammer pretends to be from a different country. It would make it harder to "proof" that he is indeed from that country. He is in control of the conversation, and has much chances to prevent the proof, or fake it.
Some of the scammers may be elsewhere, and pretend to be in Nigeria only. But "Nigeria" is burned for him also.
So, what prevents a Nigerian spammer from not disclosing the country he works from?
scams money-laundering nigeria
scams money-laundering nigeria
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
asked 16 hours ago
Volker Siegel
1206
1206
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Volker Siegel is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago
add a comment |Â
If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago
If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
14
down vote
They say Nigerian because the savvy ones ignore it so any answers must be from lower risk and more likely to send the money
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they are looking for really dumb people who don't know much about banking or anything and can be easily taken for ride. If they write great emails and camouflage, they will get quite a few responses as at that point people replying don't know its a scam. After a few email exchanges; smart people realize its a scam and walk-off.
For the scammer, he has spent / invested quite a bit of time to reply and the positive hit rate is bad.
So they make it quite obvious its a scam and wait for someone who hasn't heard or knows about it. This way he will get a better hit rate and doesn't have to invest time in responding.
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies is costly, because it requires a real human to write a custom response. If they interact with marks who are smart enough to become suspicious as soon as they get asked for money, then they are wasting their time. They only want to spend their time on the most gullible marks who never question anything. When one responds to the classic "I am a prince of Nigeria" email, then they obviously have never heard of the advanced fee fraud scam, so they are a potential victim worth spending time on.
And by the way: Not all scammers actually come from the country they claim to come from. 61% of those which get traced are in fact located in the United States. Claiming to come from an exotic location is often part of the ruse.
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
14
down vote
They say Nigerian because the savvy ones ignore it so any answers must be from lower risk and more likely to send the money
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
14
down vote
They say Nigerian because the savvy ones ignore it so any answers must be from lower risk and more likely to send the money
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
14
down vote
up vote
14
down vote
They say Nigerian because the savvy ones ignore it so any answers must be from lower risk and more likely to send the money
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
They say Nigerian because the savvy ones ignore it so any answers must be from lower risk and more likely to send the money
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
edited 13 hours ago
Bob Baerker
10.4k11440
10.4k11440
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
answered 14 hours ago
David Woodroof
1412
1412
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
David Woodroof is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
add a comment |Â
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
4
4
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/9346371/… includes links to a Microsoft research paper with exactly this conclusion - "by sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select"
– AakashM
9 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they are looking for really dumb people who don't know much about banking or anything and can be easily taken for ride. If they write great emails and camouflage, they will get quite a few responses as at that point people replying don't know its a scam. After a few email exchanges; smart people realize its a scam and walk-off.
For the scammer, he has spent / invested quite a bit of time to reply and the positive hit rate is bad.
So they make it quite obvious its a scam and wait for someone who hasn't heard or knows about it. This way he will get a better hit rate and doesn't have to invest time in responding.
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they are looking for really dumb people who don't know much about banking or anything and can be easily taken for ride. If they write great emails and camouflage, they will get quite a few responses as at that point people replying don't know its a scam. After a few email exchanges; smart people realize its a scam and walk-off.
For the scammer, he has spent / invested quite a bit of time to reply and the positive hit rate is bad.
So they make it quite obvious its a scam and wait for someone who hasn't heard or knows about it. This way he will get a better hit rate and doesn't have to invest time in responding.
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
up vote
4
down vote
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they are looking for really dumb people who don't know much about banking or anything and can be easily taken for ride. If they write great emails and camouflage, they will get quite a few responses as at that point people replying don't know its a scam. After a few email exchanges; smart people realize its a scam and walk-off.
For the scammer, he has spent / invested quite a bit of time to reply and the positive hit rate is bad.
So they make it quite obvious its a scam and wait for someone who hasn't heard or knows about it. This way he will get a better hit rate and doesn't have to invest time in responding.
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
There are different types of scams. If you browse through the scam tags, you will find some very sophisticated scams that have quite a bit of hardware as well as people.
In the Nigerian scam, they are looking for really dumb people who don't know much about banking or anything and can be easily taken for ride. If they write great emails and camouflage, they will get quite a few responses as at that point people replying don't know its a scam. After a few email exchanges; smart people realize its a scam and walk-off.
For the scammer, he has spent / invested quite a bit of time to reply and the positive hit rate is bad.
So they make it quite obvious its a scam and wait for someone who hasn't heard or knows about it. This way he will get a better hit rate and doesn't have to invest time in responding.
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
edited 2 hours ago
Magua
4,372722
4,372722
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
answered 12 hours ago
Dheer
46.9k957137
46.9k957137
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies is costly, because it requires a real human to write a custom response. If they interact with marks who are smart enough to become suspicious as soon as they get asked for money, then they are wasting their time. They only want to spend their time on the most gullible marks who never question anything. When one responds to the classic "I am a prince of Nigeria" email, then they obviously have never heard of the advanced fee fraud scam, so they are a potential victim worth spending time on.
And by the way: Not all scammers actually come from the country they claim to come from. 61% of those which get traced are in fact located in the United States. Claiming to come from an exotic location is often part of the ruse.
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies is costly, because it requires a real human to write a custom response. If they interact with marks who are smart enough to become suspicious as soon as they get asked for money, then they are wasting their time. They only want to spend their time on the most gullible marks who never question anything. When one responds to the classic "I am a prince of Nigeria" email, then they obviously have never heard of the advanced fee fraud scam, so they are a potential victim worth spending time on.
And by the way: Not all scammers actually come from the country they claim to come from. 61% of those which get traced are in fact located in the United States. Claiming to come from an exotic location is often part of the ruse.
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies is costly, because it requires a real human to write a custom response. If they interact with marks who are smart enough to become suspicious as soon as they get asked for money, then they are wasting their time. They only want to spend their time on the most gullible marks who never question anything. When one responds to the classic "I am a prince of Nigeria" email, then they obviously have never heard of the advanced fee fraud scam, so they are a potential victim worth spending time on.
And by the way: Not all scammers actually come from the country they claim to come from. 61% of those which get traced are in fact located in the United States. Claiming to come from an exotic location is often part of the ruse.
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
Scammers appear intentionally bad at their first contact in order to weed out people who are too smart.
Sending mass spam emails to random addresses is cheap. But interacting with someone who replies is costly, because it requires a real human to write a custom response. If they interact with marks who are smart enough to become suspicious as soon as they get asked for money, then they are wasting their time. They only want to spend their time on the most gullible marks who never question anything. When one responds to the classic "I am a prince of Nigeria" email, then they obviously have never heard of the advanced fee fraud scam, so they are a potential victim worth spending time on.
And by the way: Not all scammers actually come from the country they claim to come from. 61% of those which get traced are in fact located in the United States. Claiming to come from an exotic location is often part of the ruse.
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
edited 55 mins ago
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
answered 1 hour ago
Philipp
3,91911017
3,91911017
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
This is also why these scams are typically full of intentional grammar and spelling errors.
– JimmyJames
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
Volker Siegel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Volker Siegel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Volker Siegel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Volker Siegel is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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If your question is why Nigerian scammers haven't refined and perfected their craft, it might be that these kinds of scams don't attract the best and brightest scam artists.
– Patrick87
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 I get your point. But many scams follow a regular pattern, so there is information exchange which would allow to include more directions. It would get significantly more complex, though.
– Volker Siegel
15 hours ago
@Patrick87 its intended to scam the most likely to send money
– CQM
12 hours ago