419 - the Great African Email Scam

Have you ever replied to an African 419 scam email? I have, many times. Not because I have ever thought there was the remotest chance of my getting a share of the easy millions they offer, but because it amazes me that anyone ever gets scammed by them. I heard what might be an urban legend once, that also tempted me into communication. I heard that somebody replied to one of those scam emails saying, "Yes sure, but please deposit $1000 into my account first to prove you're legitimate." Rumour has it that the somebody actually got the thousand dollars.

I've never had the guts to follow through with attempting that scam-on-a-scam myself, instead I just write back, often in the same style they use to write to me. the correspondence never lasts for more than three or four emails and all it really does is make me grin. I have a sneaking respect for Africans scamming the west - it makes me wonder if it's some kind of odd revenge for colonialism and slavery - just a little revenge, perhaps.

The ebola monkey man (wants to be an internet cult, has an ugly website) got a Nigerian 419 scammer to write a regular column. His intro makes it sound as if the monkeyman thinks the scammer's a bit of a dope ... but he paid him $50 a month to write the column - until Mohammed told him it wasn't enough. He's also written a xenophobic "You might be a Nigerian 419 scammer if..." list It's spot on in some ways, but it makes that irritatingly arrogant mistake of assuming that the whole world ought to speak perfect English and understand America and so forth.

Scambaiting of 419ers, i.e. corresponding with them in order to waste their time and supposedly stop them from conning people, has a home and a community online at The 419 Eater. Some of their advice is a little suspect too. On the threat of reprisal factor, they say, "Well, Africa - which for the most part is where most (but it is to be stressed, NOT all) these scams originate from - is a long, long way away. I suspect it would take a lot more than wasting their time over a few emails for them to go to the expense to fly over and give you a beating!" - which seems a little foolish, given that there's rarely any proof that emails don't come from the net cafe down the road from you. But fair enough, lots of them are actually in Nigeria. Incidentally, the name 419 comes from the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes.

Scambaiters also try to get photos of the people they're emailing - I wonder why on earth any of them think they've got the real stuff though? there seems to be an inherent belief that the 419ers are stupid - I don't agree. A little understanding of Nigeria might be a good thing too - the history, politics and genocide. Not that I'm endorsing scammers, it's just that baiting them to the point of ridiculousness seems a little like the last days of Rome to me.

Why would anyone believe a 419 email in the first place? That's the part I really don't understand.