PDA

View Full Version : Solved: Why email scammers say they're from Nigeria



littleroundman
06-21-2012, 07:58 PM
Solved: Why email scammers say they're from Nigeria

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc153/thelittleroundman/email-scam.jpg



Nigerian scams deliberately designed to target stupid people
Study finds the "basic" nature of scam is a cost effective system
If you think a scam email is a scam, congrats, you're not the target



http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc153/thelittleroundman/email-scam2.jpg



Cyber boffin cracks the code behind the Nigerian
scam email: they're actually seeking stupid people.
Picture: Thinkstock


YOU'VE seen the email.

A terminally ill Nigerian prince or director of a massive corporation contacts you urgently asking you to move a large sum of money, promising you can keep a share. All you need to do is provide your credit card number and banking PIN.

It looks like a scam, sounds like a scam - it is a scam. But who on earth actually believes these things? If you've ever wondered why these scams are so blatant, here’s why

If you, like thousands of others, were just too smart for your attacker and saw through the tricky plot - it simply means that you were never the target anyway.

A recent study found that email scammers really aren't interested in appearing believable because it would just be too expensive if everyone fell for it.

The research conducted by Microsoft’s Machine Learning Department, titled Why do Nigerian scammers say they are from Nigeria? (http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/WhyFromNigeria.pdf) found that the OTT scam email, complete with typos is a simple, cost effective way of weeding out intelligent people, leaving only the most gullible to hit.

"Far-fetched tales of West African riches strike as comical," wrote principal researcher, Cormac Herley in the study. "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 the 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 ration in his favour.”

It seems to work. Just last year a Nigerian man was jailed for 12 years after scamming US$1.3 million. In 2008 an Oregon woman lost $400k to a similar scam.

So next time you open a scam email and think to yourself: "Why bother?" live happy in the knowledge you're not the target market.

You can read the original article Here on PerthNow.com (http://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/technology/solved-why-email-scammers-say-theyre-from-nigeria/story-fn7bsj10-1226404287910)

scratchycat
06-30-2012, 10:50 AM
It seems to work. Just last year a Nigerian man was jailed for 12 years after scamming US$1.3 million. In 2008 an Oregon woman lost $400k to a similar scam.

LRM, I was surprised to hear a confession from a social networking contact that they had actually 'believed' in this and sent money. It even got to the point someone started 'wooing' this person and wanted to come to US and marry. Yes, they sent money for this to take place and guess what!! The person even asked for more money because of certain circumstances that came up and it would cost more. Maybe about this time a light bulb clicked on in this person's mind and they started investigating. It only cost more money to find out the entire thing was a fraud and scam. I believe they are still trying to get some money back from this.

It sounds unbelievable that someone would be so stupid but desperate people do desperate things. I cannot give names or even places to these 'tales' but saw them happen in this case at any rate. A person was looking for a romance and put out some hookers and got one!! The online romance got 'really hot' and I believe he was about to sell out and go join her, my guess is had already been sending money, then she died!! The guy was fairly sincere so he was heart-broken for a short time, the female knew she had little chance of recovering from her brain tumor but her last days spent 'making love online' was a nice way to go I suppose.

Perhaps they both got what they wanted. It was not her first time but definitely her last. Now for him, it was not his first and I believe he is still up to his 'charming ways' with some other online desperate female.

When I was a member of Adland/Scamlandpro, I was contacted by another member for my advice on a ad he had responded to. It was the one seeking models for some Canadian photo shoot. He had already sent in the first fee and they were asking for more when he wrote me. I did only a few quick searches and found out they were nothing but scam artists and sent him proof of what I had learned. He thanked me and did not send anymore money.

I know most of you have been able to stop a lot of people from making some big mistake and what most people don't seem to be aware of is the fact that people DO fall for these schemes. I remember when those letters first started showing up in my Yahoo account and I read it out loud to someone while I was laughing at the obsurdity and they said "but it could be true, why don't you try it?" This was head shaking time and I said "You have got to be kidding?"

littleroundman
06-30-2012, 11:01 AM
what most people don't seem to be aware of is the fact that people DO fall for these schemes.

That's something I learned long ago.

It simply doesn't matter what I think or how many "woulda, shoulda, couldas" I can come up with, people do fall for them, and, in large numbers, too.