Those Nigerian Email Scams Are Ridiculous For A Reason

[Blue_Tires]

It's hard to imagine today that anyone who gets an email from a person claiming to be a wealthy Nigerian prince wouldn't immediately know it was scam. Yet this technique is still being used by hundreds of fraudsters.

Why? Cormac Herley of Microsoft Research, suggests it is actually a brilliant strategy designed to save time and maximize profit by immediately identifying only the most gullible marks. In other words if you're a fraudster, you want your email to be totally ridiculous:

Since gullibility is unobservable, the best strategy is to get those who possess this quality to self-identify. An email with tales of fabulous amounts of money and West African corruption will strike all but the most gullible as bizarre... Those who remain are the scammers ideal targets. They represent a tiny subset of the overall population.

The goal of the email is not so much to attract viable users as to repel the non-viable ones, who greatly outnumber them. Failure to repel all but a tiny fraction of non-viable users will make the scheme unprofitable.


Back in 2009, we interviewed Nuhu Ribadu, former head of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, about these email scams. He told us they were remarkably successful.

"It is amazing if you know how much money those guys got," said Ribadu. "Within a short period of time, we were able to recover $750 million dollars."

Ribadu told us the people who ran these scams were living large on that money:

...they were literally like celebrities. They were the big guys in society, sponsoring people for public office. They were the ones with convoys and big cars. They would occupy front seats at ceremonial things and social events.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/06/22/155581764/those-nigerian-email-scams-are-ridiculous-for-a-reason?ps=cprs

[teamster633]

1. I was reading about this theory the other day.

Just an hour or so ago it struck me that it might help explain how the rePublicons focus on their target audience. Unfortunately, the politically gullible seem to far outnumber the financially gullible.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Well, you have to figure that a certain percentage of the population

are as dumb as stumps. They keep electing Republicans, after all. Maybe the Nigerian scammers ought to try to get ahold of a Tea Party email list.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Yes, the "free lunch" crowd are the perfect demographic to focus their scams on.

Republican politicians have made careers pandering to the morons who keep voting for them and against their best interests.

[Old and In the Way]

3. I always like the reverse scammers who turn the table on these scammers.

I've read some pretty funny accounts on how the anti-scammer got scammers to play along, promising money and never sending it for some unresolvable technical reasons.

[RebelOne]

9. Yeah, my favorite is www.419eater.com.

These guys really scam the shit out of the scammers. I was a member for a while and got info to warn people in my area that had fallen for these scammers. On person I contacted had already sent over $900. Fortunately, I was able to convince him not to send any more money.

[Skinner]

4. That is fascinating.

And also sad.

[TBMASE]

6. I've been donating all my Nigerian Prince money

International Lottery Winnings, Wealthy Relatives I've never met money and Legally Stolen foreign government money to the GOP.

I just keep giving out my congressman's address so he gets the check

[cthulu2016]

7. At brain-washing seminars they will lay out rules like...

that you have to raise your hand to ask for permission to go to the bathroom.

The idea is that anyone who would object isn't going to buy whatever they're selling anyway, so you want them out the door ASAP.

The scientology "personality test" they hand out on sidewalks is really a, "how succeptible are you test."

[longship]

8. "My dear friend, I crave your indulgence..."

Isn't that the way all of them begin?

[JI7]

10. is there any place we can read or watch video of people who fell for this ?

i would be interested in seeing the types who did and why they did.

[drm604]

11. Interesting theory.

Maybe something similar may explain what's happening with the modern Republican Party.

All of us are aghast at the increasingly stupid statements and actions coming from these people. Maybe they are intentionally aiming for the most gullible part of the population.