Why Nigeria?

The Wichita bureau and I consider a puzzle for which we solicit possible solutions. It’s about the “Spanish Prisoner fraud,” aka the “advanced payment fraud” aka the “Nigerian 419 scam.” (link). We all get them: “Hello! My name is Mnagnmnunu Mnuckimnuk, and I am the widow of a prominent minister in the Nigerian cabinet,” blah blah blah, “As a gesture of good faith, if will deposit $100,000 in our bank account,” blah blah blah.

The obvious question is: why would anybody fall for this stuff (and yet they do).

The less obvious, but still interesting, question, is: why do they claim to be “Nigerian?” There is no reason on God’s green earth to suppose that the senders are all sequestered in a Quonset hut outside Lagos, like so many gold farmers in an MMORPG (link). They could be anywhere – Chechneya, Singapore, hmm for all I know it’s the lady in the next office. Sure, sometimes they claim to be from other places—I got one a few weeks ago from the widow of a pal of Slobodan Milosovich, positively European. Yet the Nigerian tint remains. Isn’t that some sort of trade misrepresentation?

Fn: and speaking of cyber-carpetbombing, I see the Russians are trying to take down the Estonians (link) with a “denial of service” attack. The Economist deems it “potentially more damaging to the country's economy than the limited Russian sanctions announced so far.” If that doesn’t work, they might try a 419 storm.