# What's the straight dope on Nigerian email scams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077 "2011-01-26T18:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/1 "2011-01-26T18:43:55Z")
Thanks, SDMB. Thirty years on the internet and I finally get a Nigerian email. I was feeling left out. But now that I’m in the club, can somebody tell me how these things are supposed to work? How does somebody who can’t spell plane correctly manage to post hundreds of emails? Are these things supposed to be real? Is there somebody who really expects people to fall for this? Or is it just trolling or viral marketing for some website? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/2 "2011-01-26T18:52:21Z")
You send them your banking info, they clean you out. And yes, people fall for this everyday, else they wouldn’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/3 "2011-01-26T18:52:40Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/fraud/advancefee/nigeria.asp) will give you the background on how the scams work. Sadly, not only are they real, but people have fallen for them to the tune of millions of dollars, and in once case being murdered in Nigeria. For an excellent analysis of how one person fell for the scam, read this [New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/15/060515fa_fact) article. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/4 "2011-01-26T19:07:07Z")
Yes, these really get people, greed never fails to get victims, no matter how many times these frauds are exposed. Usually how they work is that arrangements are made to “transfer” the money to the victim, but some small fee for paperwork or to grease the right palm comes up just before the millions can be released. If you do a search there are a lot of people who ruthlessly play with these scammers by seeming to be going along with the scam, while making asses of the scammers and making them go through all kinds of hoops and wasting the scammer’s time. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/5 "2011-01-26T19:07:24Z")
Some people suspect that the poor grammar and misspellings are, at least in part, deliberate, to make the “mark” feel smug and superior to the simpleton that is trying to get help with their illicit windfall. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/6 "2011-01-26T19:07:26Z")
Finally, the economics of email work such that it’s more than worthwhile to send your message to a million people if you think there’s a 1-2% chance of one of them responding in the way you want. It’s all about playing the odds, and the fact email is really, really cheap to send. This is where groups like [Bait-A-Mugu](http://baita.mugu.co.uk/) and [419 Eater](http://www.419eater.com/index.php) come in: They respond to emails as if they’re hooked, but instead play the scammer for a while before releasing him, wasting his time and skewing the economics away from profitability. They know enough to do this safely (never go anywhere they tell you to go, never give them real information, etc.) and the results can be quite humorous. (You wouldn’t believe what those criminal morons will do until you see some of the pictures they got from them.) ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/7 "2011-01-26T19:11:34Z")
They expect people to fall for it because people have. I have been in internet cafes in Western Africa with dozens of people who sit there for hours at a time, sending out these emails. It’s a low-tech operation: You encounter lots of people who will start begging for money in a hassling way; when you say no, they will ask for your email address, just to “send blessings”. This is also done by housekeepers at hotels, boat tour operators, and so on. They start talking to you, they give you there (questionably authentic) sob story, they ask that you “just give me only” your email address, so they can keep you updated. They will sell the email addresses they collect to the kids who go to the cafes to write the emails. It rarely seems to be the Nigerian Prince, anymore; most of those I get purport to be from a lady with six kids or something. Who’s falling for it? You always hear people say the elderly, but I think a lot of it is people who went on vacations in third world countries, listened to all the advice about not pulling your wallet out on the street or giving to beggars, but now feel guilty about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/8 "2011-01-26T19:23:45Z")
I’m not asking if any email frauds ever work. I’m wondering if such transparently bad ones are expected to work. Look at the example in Snopes: > [@](#): > > The source of this fund is as follow; During the last military regime here in Nigeria, the government officials set up companies and awarded themselves contracts which were grossly over-invoiced in various ministries. The present civilian government set up a contract review panel and we have identified a lot of inflated contract funds which are presently floating in the Central Bank of Nigeria ready for payment. Bullshit, but articulate bullshit that at least sounds like something a businessman would write. Now look at the email many of us received today: > [@](#): > > The Fund is currently in a suspense account awaiting claim, the bank made a public notice that they are ready to release this fund to any of his relatives abroad. THEREFORE, by virtue of its nature as being utterly CONFIDENTIAL, top secret should be maintained please!,because i am still in the active service i do not need any form of implication especially now i am in the verge of my retirement to endanger my carear at last!.Since we got the information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines and laws. This sounds like something written by an over-imaginative ten year old. If I received a letter like this from my bank, talking about legitimate business involving my existing account, I’d still suspect it because it was so poorly written. That’s why I feel that “danielsunho” whoever he is, does not expect anyone to send him their banking information. I figure he’s either a troll or somebody who’s trying to get people to email him for some other purpose. ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/9 "2011-01-26T19:36:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not asking if any email frauds ever work. I’m wondering if such transparently bad ones are expected to work. Yes, because people may think that the writer’s first language is not English. Also, I don’t know about anyone else, but I receive a lot of emails from English-speaking members of my own family (Oh, Aunt Jill) with similarly poor grammar, spelling, and enthusiastic punctuation. The fact that they regularly write like this makes me think they’re less likely to question it than people like Dopers. Throw in some enormous GIF images of sparkly kittens and sunflowers and parts of it could pass for any of the potluck invitations I receive. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/10 "2011-01-26T19:42:53Z")
But the real scammer really isn’t fluent in English. I suppose the workaround is to just copy another scammer’s pitch. But there are so many of pitches and you hardly ever see an exact duplicate, although of course the broad strokes are similar. It reads like it was composed by a semi-literate fraud because it was composed by a semi-literate fraud. And they can’t just “clean out your bank account” if you send them your bank account number. Rather, what usually happens is they send you a check, you deposit it, the check clears, you send them their 20%cut and you keep the 80%. Then in a week the bank says the check wasn’t valid, and you’re out all the money you sent to Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/11 "2011-01-26T19:46:07Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > And they can’t just “clean out your bank account” if you send them your bank account number. Rather, what usually happens is they send you a check, you deposit it, the check clears, you send them their 20%cut and you keep the 80%. Then in a week the bank says the check wasn’t valid, and you’re out all the money you sent to Nigeria. Or they require a few thousand dollars to “grease the wheels”, bribe officials, whatever, before the millions can be released. Hence the common term “advance fee fraud”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/12 "2011-01-26T19:49:25Z")
This type of scam is nothing new - the ‘Spanish Prisoner’ con dates from the 19th century. E-mail adds a modern twist on the con, giving the scammers a wider target base. > **[Spanish Prisoner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Prisoner)** > > The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence trick originating by at least the early 19th century, as Eugène François Vidocq described in his memoirs. > In its original form, the confidence trickster tells his victim (the mark) that he is (or is in correspondence with) a wealthy person of high estate who has been imprisoned in Spain under a false identity. Some versions had the imprisoned person being an unknown or remote relative of the mark. Supposedly the prisoner cannot reveal his identity without se... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/13 "2011-01-26T20:10:44Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But the real scammer really isn’t fluent in English. I suppose the workaround is to just copy another scammer’s pitch. But there are so many of pitches and you hardly ever see an exact duplicate, although of course the broad strokes are similar. It reads like it was composed by a semi-literate fraud because it was composed by a semi-literate fraud. > > And they can’t just “clean out your bank account” if you send them your bank account number. Rather, what usually happens is they send you a check, you deposit it, the check clears, you send them their 20%cut and you keep the 80%. Then in a week the bank says the check wasn’t valid, and you’re out all the money you sent to Nigeria. That’s kind of my point. How is a semi-literate who can’t spell simple words or punctuate a sentence going to be able to manage a relatively sophisticated international check fraud? This guy doesn’t sound like he could manage to open a checking account. Criminals of that intellectual caliber usually stick to something simpler like mugging people or robbing convenience stores. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/14 "2011-01-26T21:13:42Z")
Awww, I finally got one of these less than a year ago after feeling sorta left out, too. I get all _sorts_ of other spam sometimes! I felt absurdly happy to finally be in the club, too. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/15 "2011-01-26T21:20:47Z")
My credit union has signs up warning people about these scams. It seems hard to believe that people fall for them but it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/16 "2011-01-26T21:31:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s kind of my point. How is a semi-literate who can’t spell simple words or punctuate a sentence going to be able to manage a relatively sophisticated international check fraud? This guy doesn’t sound like he could manage to open a checking account. Criminals of that intellectual caliber usually stick to something simpler like mugging people or robbing convenience stores. So, there’s a correlation between intelligence and the ability to communicate fluently in written English? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/17 "2011-01-26T21:32:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s kind of my point. How is a semi-literate who can’t spell simple words or punctuate a sentence going to be able to manage a relatively sophisticated international check fraud? This guy doesn’t sound like he could manage to open a checking account. Criminals of that intellectual caliber usually stick to something simpler like mugging people or robbing convenience stores. As I said upthread, don’t take the spelling and grammar at face value. For one thing, it can be a ploy to appear uneducated and make people think they are dealing with someone dumb and/or badly educated - after all, a dumb person can’t scam me, right? For another, often the emails are sent out by gangs of poorly paid kids and teenagers, and if they get a bite then it’s the Fagin character that takes over and does the deal. These aren’t one-man operations. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/18 "2011-01-26T21:33:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s kind of my point. How is a semi-literate who can’t spell simple words or punctuate a sentence going to be able to manage a relatively sophisticated international check fraud? This guy doesn’t sound like he could manage to open a checking account. Criminals of that intellectual caliber usually stick to something simpler like mugging people or robbing convenience stores. As I understand it the people writing the e-mails are not the ones running the scam - there is a “boss” if you will. Any bites get passed to him. One would assume he’s the one that handles the actual money-scamming part (usually an advance-fee scam). ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/19 "2011-01-26T21:35:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How is a semi-literate who can’t spell simple words or punctuate a sentence going to be able to manage a relatively sophisticated international check fraud? Without seeing your e-mail in full, it’s impossible to say for sure. But in many scam e-mails, the sender doesn’t pose as a person managing a sophisticated international check fraud; he or she poses as an honest simpleton, unsophisticated in the ways of finance and perhaps new to inherited wealth, who needs help from a stranger. Of course such a person wouldn’t be fluent in English. The mark can plausibly believe that he can take advantage of such a person, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for a few hours of work. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077/20 "2011-01-26T21:40:27Z")
Many years ago, a guy in New Hampshire was scammed by a Nigerian. This guy happened to own the world’s largest pile of old tires-and he was getting flack from the state and the EPA-about the dangers of this pile of rubber. then he announced that he had the solution-he was going to sell the old tires to Nigeria for $1.00 each (how this was supposed to work, I have no idea). At any rate-the deal went sour-shortly after this, a mysterious fire started in his junkyard-and 10 million tires went up in flames. I suspect that the guy was conned out of a lot of money-anyone know more about this incident? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-nigerian-email-scams/569077.md?page=2)