Help the prince

Help the prince published on 6 Comments on Help the prince

The Nigerian Prince only wants to reward you for helping him out.

Seriously, if there actually is (now or in the future) a Nigerian Prince, who finds themselves unable to move money from their bank accounts, they will be so totally stuck.
It will be like the boy who cried wolf. No-one would believe that the request for help is true, since pretty much everyone in the world knows about the infamous “Nigerian Prince Money” email scam.

Yet, even though everybody seemingly knows of this scam, it still goes on.
Why?
Simple. PEOPLE STILL FALL FOR IT.

Scam Detectives recently posted a very rare interview with a “Nigerian scammer” which is an interesting read.
The part I found so amazing, and at the same time, so appalling, is that he claimed these scammers still make “on average, about $7,500 (£4,600)” per victim.
Seriously? That is a ridiculous amount of money to be getting from people in this day and age, via a scam that I had believed a majority of people were aware of. But, obviously, many people are still in the dark about the scam.

To be fair, the swindle (officially known as a 419 scam in USA) has many variations on it’s core theme, which may confuse people.
We do hear reports of some people who are caught by these scams, such as here, but I am sure there are many others that work hard to keep it very quiet.

So, I would encourage you all to read about the most common scams of the past decade and then remember :  “Always think before you reply”

6 Comments

I publish a middle school newspaper in Virginia, USA, and my student has asked if he can use this to illustrate his story on internet scams. I told him we need to get your permission first. We have no budget and don’t sell advertising or make any money on the newspaper, so I am hoping that you will allow us to use it for free. We will happily post your web site so people can come check out your work.

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