# Spelling mistakes in Nigerian Scam **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034 "2015-01-27T18:35:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/1 "2015-01-27T18:35:04Z")
According to QI the Nigerian Scam letters contain spelling mistakes deliberately because it weeds out the intelligent people and leaves people more likely to fall for it. Can this be true? It doesn’t make sense. ISTM that they would win fewer victims that way. Some borderline mugs might spot the errors and be alerted, when they might have fallen for a correctly spelt one. I suspect the real reason is that the scammers are poorly educated. Here’s the show: [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCA0p8VjlKc) discussion of Nigerian Scam starts at 7m 44s point about the misspellings at 12m 52s ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/2 "2015-01-27T19:00:22Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > According to QI the Nigerian Scam letters contain spelling mistakes deliberately because it weeds out the intelligent people and leaves people more likely to fall for it. > > Can this be true? It doesn’t make sense. ISTM that they would win fewer victims that way. Some borderline mugs might spot the errors and be alerted, when they might have fallen for a correctly spelt one. I suspect the real reason is that the scammers are poorly educated. > > Here’s the show: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCA0p8VjlKc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCA0p8VjlKc) > > discussion of Nigerian Scam starts at 7m 44s > point about the misspellings at 12m 52s I remember reading an article a few years ago that explained that the scam letters actually contain poor grammar and spelling in order to _increase_\*\* their credibility that they were sent from a non-native English speaker. Probably the only peeople who know for sure are the scammers. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/3 "2015-01-27T19:03:06Z")
It makes sense. The scammers are intelligent enough to run the scams. They can use spell check and establish and maintain computer networks. The ultimate point is not to waste time and effort on people who aren’t going to fall for a scam. If they can still scam a sufficient number of people and easily eliminate those who would never fall for the scam in the first place, it’s just an efficiency measure. I guess another way of looking at it is that when you only need to catch 10 fish, why does it matter if there are 100000 fish in the lake or 100000000 fish? At that point, you can be selective and pick the lake with the bigger, tastier fish, even if there aren’t as many by overall count. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/4 "2015-01-27T19:26:36Z")
it seems that the emails with all their errors are actually quite sophisticated. The guy sitting in an internet cafe at midnight sending emails for pennies an hour, did not compose them; neither did his boss who may have a dozen or more ‘boys’ working under him. The emails are carefully calculated to elicit a response from the people most likely to fall for the scam. > [@](#): > > All scams and “confidence tricks” are intended to catch people off guard while being maximally credible. Their strategy is to play into people’s superstitions of how the world works and provide specific details to intrigue the imagination. The awkward formal English, in particular, fits how a lot of people think an upper class African might talk whose family dates from the colonial era. > [http://www.quora.com/Why-are-email-scams-written-in-broken-English](http://www.quora.com/Why-are-email-scams-written-in-broken-English) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/5 "2015-01-27T21:03:10Z")
Plus it adds an important element by letting the mark think he/she is smarter than the con man. The only way it works is if you are confident that there’s no possible way the writer of the letter can outsmart you. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/6 "2015-01-27T21:11:55Z")
Lots of college graduates have fallen for these scams. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/7 "2015-01-27T21:16:27Z")
[Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria?](http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/WhyFromNigeria.pdf) > [@](#): > > False positives cause many promising detection technologies to be unworkable in practice. Attackers, we show, face this problem too. In deciding who to attack true positives are targets successfully attacked, while false positives are those that are attacked but yield nothing. > > This allows us to view the attacker’s problem as a binary classification. The most profitable strategy requires accurately distinguishing viable from non-viable users, and balancing the relative costs of true and false positives. We show that as victim density decreases the fraction of viable users than can be profitably attacked drops dramatically. For example, a 10x reduction in > density can produce a 1000x reduction in the number of victims found. At very low victim densities the attacker faces a seemingly intractable Catch-22: unless he can distinguish viable from non-viable users with great accuracy the attacker cannot find enough victims to be profitable. However, only by finding large numbers of victims can he learn how to accurately distinguish the two. > > Finally, this approach suggests an answer to the question in the title. Far-fetched tales of West African riches strike most as comical. Our analysis suggests that is an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage. Since his attack has a low density of victims the Nigerian scammer has an over-riding need to reduce false positives. By sending an email that repels all but the most > gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select, and tilts the true to false positive ratio in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/8 "2015-01-27T21:28:49Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Plus it adds an important element by letting the mark think he/she is smarter than the con man. The only way it works is if you are confident that there’s no possible way the writer of the letter can outsmart you. > [@Type Negative](#): > > Lots of college graduates have fallen for these scams. I think you two are thinking along the same lines here. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/9 "2015-01-28T00:10:33Z")
While nearly all “Nigerian” letters I have received have been pretty farcical in their spelling and grammar, I just received a Skype contact request from the daughter of the late Muammar Gaddafi that had almost perfect spelling and grammar. ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/10 "2015-01-28T01:40:34Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Lots of college graduates have fallen for these scams. I’ve heard that the most common victims to these scams are doctors and lawyers (i.e. highly educated people). Whether that’s true or not, I have no idea. It sounds like an urban legend, though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/11 "2015-01-28T02:11:12Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > [Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria?](http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/WhyFromNigeria.pdf) I’d read somewhere that they actually are in Nigeria because Nigerian law enforcement, for whatever reason (I don’t recall), turns a blind eye on the scammers. So when the target sends money to the scammer or even flies into Nigeria and ends up in a lot of trouble, they end up with very few options when they have no one to turn to. Kind of similar to credit card companies working out of Delaware (tax breaks) or spammers bouncing things through Russia. From [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_scams): “Furthermore, the government of Nigeria has been slow to take action, leading some investigators to believe that some Nigerian government officials are involved in some of these scams” That wiki page isn’t where I first heard it, it’s just the first place I found something to back up what I said. I don’t know if I read it somewhere or if it was in a documentary about 419 scams or what. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/12 "2015-01-28T02:24:26Z")
I’ve found a new thing to be scammers from Uganda (it’s _always_ Uganda) using fake profiles on dating sites, such as OKCupid, posing as hot women. Funny shit, actually. ETA: Their stories are all similar; they grew up and live in some nearby town, and they’d love to meet. However, they’re currently in Uganda, visiting their sick mother and cant afford a plane ticket home. ☹ Wont you send me money so i can come see you handsome? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/13 "2015-01-28T02:28:32Z")
In my experience, the average small-town Nigerian internet user would have English a little better than what is found in these letters. They would still make plenty of mistakes, but not quite as ridiculous as in the ltters. I think the poor grammar and spelling mistakes are on purpose, but not in a really calculated way. People probably just noticed that putting in the effort to make them better didn’t yield better returns, but dumbing them down a bit did. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/14 "2015-01-28T02:30:23Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > While nearly all “Nigerian” letters I have received have been pretty farcical in their spelling and grammar, I just received a Skype contact request from the daughter of the late Muammar Gaddafi that had almost perfect spelling and grammar. [Apparently, her English has gotten better in the last four years.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605120) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/15 "2015-01-28T02:30:25Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I’ve found a new thing to be scammers from Uganda (it’s _always_ Uganda) using fake profiles on dating sites, such as OKCupid, posing as hot women. Funny shit, actually. > > ETA: Their stories are all similar; they grew up and live in some nearby town, and they’d love to meet. However, they’re currently in Uganda, visiting their sick mother and cant afford a plane ticket home. ☹ Wont you send me money so i can come see you handsome? They may actually be women. The webcam-enabled internet cafes in Cameroon were basically dominated by women working long hours, probably mostly on scams, but many would probably gladly angle for a visa relationship if it came up. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/16 "2015-01-28T02:34:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I’ve found a new thing to be scammers from Uganda (it’s _always_ Uganda) using fake profiles on dating sites, such as OKCupid, posing as hot women. Funny shit, actually. > > ETA: Their stories are all similar; they grew up and live in some nearby town, and they’d love to meet. However, they’re currently in Uganda, visiting their sick mother and cant afford a plane ticket home. ☹ Wont you send me money so i can come see you handsome? I’ve taken to trying to “out” these people just by the awkward language used in their profiles; just for the shits n giggles. One time I asked this “girl” whom I knew to be a scammer if English was her second language and she said, “No! I’m good in English”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/17 "2015-01-28T02:40:05Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > They may actually be women. The webcam-enabled internet cafes in Cameroon were basically dominated by women working long hours, probably mostly on scams, but many would probably gladly angle for a visa relationship if it came up. Well of course they may be women, I never speculated on the gender of the scammers. Although the visa angle is doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/18 "2015-01-28T04:01:12Z")
(possible hijack) Someone should do a thread on funniest scam emails… This is the best one I’ve got: **Subject:** Do you want to see and have sex or not?? Hello, when you and I last chatting you said you wanted to see and have sex? What was happend did I scare you off? Sorry if I am slightly early but I am done with fellows goind round the houses. I want having sex and a great deal of it if you are not the man for the job just tell it please and i will search for someone else. Authorise me on this site if you are still open for some real bang Kiss you, Elle …or maybe it was legitimate and I’ve missed out on some real bang? ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/19 "2015-01-28T04:14:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > While nearly all “Nigerian” letters I have received have been pretty farcical in their spelling and grammar, I just received a Skype contact request from the daughter of the late Muammar Gaddafi that had almost perfect spelling and grammar. That’s new to me. The spammy Skype contact requests I get are always Russian women with profile pictures that don’t let anyone who views them miss the “big tits”. Probably a ploy to capture straight and bi guys in their net, 'cause “hot girl”. Too bad for them I won’t fall for it–I’m gay. 😃 I’ve ignored every single one of them, of course, but I wonder how the scam works with people who **do** fall for it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034/20 "2015-01-28T04:27:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’d read somewhere that they actually are in Nigeria because Nigerian law enforcement, for whatever reason (I don’t recall), turns a blind eye on the scammers. Originally I used to get letters only from Nigeria, but starting maybe about 10 years ago they started to claim to be from just about any country you could think of, not only in Africa but in also in Europe, Asia, and South America. These days many are certainly not Nigerian, since I’ve received letters in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and even Chinese. French: > [@](#): > > Bonjour > Je m’excuse pour cette intrusion, je me nomme Vanessa TREMBLEY née le 03 Juin 1946 originaire de la Suisse . J’ai du vous contacter de cette sorte parce que je souhaite faire une chose très importante. Cela vous semblera un peu suspect bien vrai que vous ne me connaissez pas et que je ne vous connais pas. En fait,Je souffre d’un cancer du cerveau qui est en phase terminale, mon médecin traitant vient de m’informer que mes jours sont comptes du fait de mon état de sante dégrade. Selon ce que le Docteur m’a justifie une Boule s’installe présentement dans ma cage cérébrale, j’ai cette maladie depuis plus de 4 ans. Je suis veuve et je n’ai pas eu d’enfant. Je suis hospitalisée a LONDRES en ANGLETERRE . J’envisage de faire une donation de tous mes biens. J’ai presque vendu mes affaires dont une compagnie pétrolière , une partie de tout cet argent sera versée a différentes associations, des centres d’aide aux orphelins et aux sans abri. Je ne sais pas dans quel domaine d’activité vous exercez mais je souhaiterais vous aider a aider les autres. J’ai en ce moment dans mon compte personnel compte bloque, la somme de $1.025.000 dollars US ( Un million vingt cinq mille dollars US) que j’avais garde pour un projet de construction. Je serai grée de vous donner cet argent qui pourra vous aider dans votre entreprise et vos projets , je vous prie d’accepter cela car c’est un don que je vous fait et cela sans rien demander en retour.Je souffre énormément et j’ai très peur de mourir sans connaitre la destination de mes biens , je n’arrive presque pas a dormir la nuit comme la journée car je ne veux pas mourir sans avoir fait don de tout cet argent sinon je pense que cela serait un gâchis. Veuillez me répondre directement sur mon mail le plus utilise qui est: XXXXX > Que la Paix et la miséricorde de Dieu soient avec vous. > Veuve Vanessa TREMBLEY Spanish, oddly claiming to be from Ivory Coast (Costa de Marfil) > [@](#): > > Saludos, > > Espero que esta carta no le molesta, ya que no tenemos discusión anterior sobre este asunto. Soy la Sra. Caroline Kapper de los Países Bajos, la esposa del difunto Velthuysen Sr. Van, quien murió en el accidente aéreo el año 2002 el 15 de abril, en Busan, Corea del Sur Aviones: Boeing B-767-200ER reg: B-2552 la compañía aérea: Air China Vuelo N º: 129 Muertes: 166: 128 en su viaje de negocios. > > Estoy casada con el finales señor Van Velthuysen que trabajó con Royal Friesland Campina una corporación multinacional holandesa y una de las mayores empresas de lácteos en el mundo en Costa de Marfil desde hace diecinueve años en el África occidental antes de morir en el accidente aéreo en el año 2002 15 de abril, en Busan, Corea del Sur Aviones: Boeing B-767-200ER reg: B-2552 la compañía aérea: Air China Vuelo N º: 129 Muertes: 166: 128 en su viaje de negocios. > > … Portuguese > [@](#): > > De Miss Akiiki Kissa > > Eu sou a senhorita Akiiki Kissa feminino 20 anos, solteiro, com minha > mãe e irmão mais novo. Perdemos meu pai durante a guerra aqui e me meu > único irmão e minha mãe são aplainamento da deslocalização para o seu > país para o investimento. > > Base de dados sobre o atual problema político aqui no meu país eu > decidi contato com você para ajudar-me fornecer uma conta no exterior, > onde em que o Fundo pode ser transferido para para o investimento > antes de fazermos o nosso plano para vir.Temos ido a confirmação do > depósito aqui e eles estão esperando por mim para fornecer informações > do meu parceiro pai estrangeiro que vai fazer o arranjo para a > liberação do fundo, e também fazer o arranjo para mim e para minha mãe > para vir ao seu país. > Eu e meu irmão ainda mais a educação sobre a minha chegada porque você > também vai nos ajudar a garantir um residente permitir também investir > e gerir o fundo até que eu terminar minha educação lá. > Vamos discutir termos e percentuais sempre que você me respondeu, mas > você deve tratar esta urgente e responder immediately.Please resposta > a amabilidade de me imediatamente para obter mais detalhes, juntamente > com o seu contato completo. > Espero ouvir de você logo. Voltar para mim com o meu endereço de > e-mail privado em > > Perca Akiiki Kissa Weirdly, one in Spanish that supposedly comes from Germany. > [@](#): > > Süddeutsche Klassenlotterie DIE! > SKL-Gunther, Kronacher Str.60 > D-96052 Bamberg > Alemán > > Número de referencia: SKL/Millionenformel/05/1288 > Lote: SKL/25/8787 > Felicidades! > Nos complace informarle de que el resultado acaba de concluir anual atrae a final de consumo y el Programa de Klassenlotterie Süddeutsche. > Ha sido aprobado tanto por un pago único es un pago de 700.000,00 euros (siete mil euros) en efectivo acreditado al archivo SKL/Millionenformel/05/1288. Este es un premio en efectivo total de 35 millones de acciones de los primeros treinta y cinco (35) ganadores afortunados en esta categoría. > > Su fondo está depositado en un banco offshore en un seguro de tapa dura. Como la combinación de algunos números y nombres, le aconsejamos que guarde este premio a un aviso público, hasta que la solicitud haya sido procesada y su dinero remitido a su cuenta bancaria designada, porque es parte de un protocolo de seguridad para evitar la doble reivindicación o ventaja injustificada de este programa para el público. > > … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-mistakes-in-nigerian-scam/711034.md?page=2)