Nigerian Scamming
The Nigerian Culture of Scamming and How it Came to Be
Many Americans have very limited knowledge of Nigeria. People tend to know little regarding the country’s history or its current affairs, and hold the nation to a common image. This image of Nigeria can generally be narrowed down to poverty, corruption, and the scamming that is operated out of the country. While Nigeria is worthy of much more than a three-word summary, there are reasons why the country has earned this reputation. Poverty, corruption, and scamming occur in every country, but Nigeria’s extensive history regarding these topics has led them to being singled-out by many people in the international community. Nigeria is no stranger to scamming and the “sort of misuse of official iconography”, which is often used in the infamous Nigerian scams (Engber). According to a New York Times report, “When Nigeria was established as a colony under British rule in 1914, its first governor cracked down on scammers in fake uniforms who claimed to be collecting taxes on behalf of the empire” (Engber). This example from many years ago foreshadowed the extensive scamming culture that would come to exist in Nigeria over half of a century later. Over time, lack of law enforcement, widespread poverty, and severe corruption have fostered a community in which scamming’s occurrence is almost inevitable. While various methods of scamming operate out of Nigeria, the most common and well-known scam is called the 419 scam. The 419 scam is often thought of to be an email-exclusive scam, but the scam existed prior to email. As a matter of fact, the 419 scam is an advanced-fee scam, and the “advance-fee scam itself whereby payments are extracted from a sucker who hopes to gain an enormous treasure seems to have originated elsewhere” (Engber). An earlier variation of the 419 scam “known as the Spanish Swindle or the Spanish Prisoner trick, plagued Britain throughout the 19th century” (Engber). The modern 419
Many Americans have very limited knowledge of Nigeria. People tend to know little regarding the country’s history or its current affairs, and hold the nation to a common image. This image of Nigeria can generally be narrowed down to poverty, corruption, and the scamming that is operated out of the country. While Nigeria is worthy of much more than a three-word summary, there are reasons why the country has earned this reputation. Poverty, corruption, and scamming occur in every country, but Nigeria’s extensive history regarding these topics has led them to being singled-out by many people in the international community. Nigeria is no stranger to scamming and the “sort of misuse of official iconography”, which is often used in the infamous Nigerian scams (Engber). According to a New York Times report, “When Nigeria was established as a colony under British rule in 1914, its first governor cracked down on scammers in fake uniforms who claimed to be collecting taxes on behalf of the empire” (Engber). This example from many years ago foreshadowed the extensive scamming culture that would come to exist in Nigeria over half of a century later. Over time, lack of law enforcement, widespread poverty, and severe corruption have fostered a community in which scamming’s occurrence is almost inevitable. While various methods of scamming operate out of Nigeria, the most common and well-known scam is called the 419 scam. The 419 scam is often thought of to be an email-exclusive scam, but the scam existed prior to email. As a matter of fact, the 419 scam is an advanced-fee scam, and the “advance-fee scam itself whereby payments are extracted from a sucker who hopes to gain an enormous treasure seems to have originated elsewhere” (Engber). An earlier variation of the 419 scam “known as the Spanish Swindle or the Spanish Prisoner trick, plagued Britain throughout the 19th century” (Engber). The modern 419
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