4 ms·

One thing I never quite understood. These "Nigerian prince" scams can originate from any developing nation where the exchange rate makes for very lucrative pros

by whack 10y ago

One thing I never quite understood. These "Nigerian prince" scams can originate from any developing nation where the exchange rate makes for very lucrative prospects. Ie, Chile, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan, China, India, Thailand, etc etc. Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria?

jrowley 10y ago
One simple explanation is that Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. Also Lagos is massive city and has good internet (better than more rural areas) so you have a lot of people without a lot money, but a lot of time and relatively cheap internet access.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ryuker16 10y ago
Success rate.... Also other countries have different scams. I ran an import export and frequently pakistan scammers looking for an business visa would try to fake a business with you. They would waste hours of your time before dropping the act, annoucing they cant pay $ 10k and really just want to illegally work in your country. Way worse.....one guy did actually show up after conning another guy successfully. Turns out he was legit in business but wanted to inspect wares first before wiring a ton of cash. That was a shock when he showed up on my doorstep. Imagine the nigerian prince dude you told to get lost ringing your doorbell 6 months later!!!! Good ol alibaba chats...
wodenokoto 10y ago
According to wikipedia most don't originate from Nigeria, but claim to do so, which to me only ads to the mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam
- _nedR 10y ago
  Paper : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-nigerian-scammers-say-they-are-from-nigeria/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-... Or Article : http://gizmodo.com/5919818/why-nigerian-scammers-say-theyre-from-nigeria http://gizmodo.com/5919818/why-nigerian-scammers-say-theyre-... Quite clever and counter-intuitive really.
- chucksmash 10y ago
  There was an article from Microsoft[1] posted four months ago that talked about this phenomenon. The takeaway as I recall is that filtering out potential victims who have heard of the scam as quickly as possible is the most profitable move. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11909111 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11909111
- rdtsc 10y ago
  Not surprising at all. This is all very rational actually. The idea is this: Nigeria is a common place for such online scams. It is so well known, that only the most gullible and unaware people would believe and respond to the emails. And, guess what kind of people the scammers are looking for ... Using a different place runs the risk of getting too many responses with a high percentage of those who are smart enough to soon quickly realize it is scam, so now scammers wasted their time on that. They'd rather use bad English, really stereotypical phrases and so on. It is a good filter.
oblio 10y ago
> Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria? We (Romania) prefer to steal credit card numbers instead. Less work and instant benefits!
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Not sure if you're being facetious or if this is actually more prevalent. I haven't been to Romania but did notice and personally experience credit card numbers being stolen in Greece, especially in tourist areas in Athens, presumably via skimmers.
  - oblio 10y ago
    As far as I know our guys mostly do it through online stuff. Basically script kiddies: high-school dropouts with nothing better to do.
hilop 10y ago
You mean cost of living / purchasing power disparity, not exchange rate?

by whack 10y ago

jrowley 10y ago

One simple explanation is that Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. Also Lagos is massive city and has good internet (better than more rural areas) so you have a lot of people without a lot money, but a lot of time and relatively cheap internet access.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

ryuker16 10y ago

Success rate.... Also other countries have different scams. I ran an import export and frequently pakistan scammers looking for an business visa would try to fake a business with you. They would waste hours of your time before dropping the act, annoucing they cant pay $ 10k and really just want to illegally work in your country. Way worse.....one guy did actually show up after conning another guy successfully. Turns out he was legit in business but wanted to inspect wares first before wiring a ton of cash. That was a shock when he showed up on my doorstep. Imagine the nigerian prince dude you told to get lost ringing your doorbell 6 months later!!!! Good ol alibaba chats...

wodenokoto 10y ago

According to wikipedia most don't originate from Nigeria, but claim to do so, which to me only ads to the mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam

_nedR 10y ago
Paper : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-nigerian-scammers-say-they-are-from-nigeria/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-... Or Article : http://gizmodo.com/5919818/why-nigerian-scammers-say-theyre-from-nigeria http://gizmodo.com/5919818/why-nigerian-scammers-say-theyre-... Quite clever and counter-intuitive really.
chucksmash 10y ago
There was an article from Microsoft[1] posted four months ago that talked about this phenomenon. The takeaway as I recall is that filtering out potential victims who have heard of the scam as quickly as possible is the most profitable move. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11909111 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11909111
rdtsc 10y ago
Not surprising at all. This is all very rational actually. The idea is this: Nigeria is a common place for such online scams. It is so well known, that only the most gullible and unaware people would believe and respond to the emails. And, guess what kind of people the scammers are looking for ... Using a different place runs the risk of getting too many responses with a high percentage of those who are smart enough to soon quickly realize it is scam, so now scammers wasted their time on that. They'd rather use bad English, really stereotypical phrases and so on. It is a good filter.

oblio 10y ago

> Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria? We (Romania) prefer to steal credit card numbers instead. Less work and instant benefits!

tedmiston 10y ago
Not sure if you're being facetious or if this is actually more prevalent. I haven't been to Romania but did notice and personally experience credit card numbers being stolen in Greece, especially in tourist areas in Athens, presumably via skimmers.
- oblio 10y ago
  As far as I know our guys mostly do it through online stuff. Basically script kiddies: high-school dropouts with nothing better to do.

hilop 10y ago

You mean cost of living / purchasing power disparity, not exchange rate?