Imagine a stranger sends you an email asking for your bank account information and all sorts of other personal information. It seems like a pretty obvious thing to ignore and relegate to the spam folder doesn't it? Now imagine the stranger is a high ranking Nigerian civil servant who needs your help transferring millions of dollars from a suspended account in Nigeria into a foreign account and is willing to compensate you handsomely for your assistance. The email immediately becomes much more appealing and much easier to fall for. In fact, findings at the 2002 International Conference for Advance Fee Fraud indicate that millions of people have received this type of message or messages similar to it and that of the people who receive them, one percent actually end up acquiescing and sending in their personal and financial information, perhaps blinded by thoughts of instant fortune. The 2002 International Conference for Advance Fee Fraud also estimated that yearly losses to these types of scams (referred to as 419 scams because 419 is the part of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes) total more than $100 million in the United States alone and global losses may be in excess of $1.5 billion.
There has been some research done into the psychology of the 419 scam victim and the results are fascinating. Observers have argued that people are more likely to believe something that is written in a formal manner and adorned with an official looking letterhead is more likely to be authentic, regardless of the content of the text. This could be considered an extension of the human tendency to yield to authority and overestimate the accuracy of information expressed from a position of authority. Other possible explanations offered are feeling a sense of adventurism entering the high stakes realm of international business and feeling indebted to the scammer because they extended such a gracious offer of instant fortune. These explanations account for why someone would enter such a shady business relationship but the reasons that someone would maintain such an relationship despite its obvious perils are different. The victims are given various explanations as to why the money hasn't changed hands yet, reasons like delays in paperwork and electronic processes being stalled and this serves to further their false hope. Victims also feel trapped in this scheme by all the money that they have already invested into it and feel there is no turning back after a certain point. Perhaps the victims find it too difficult to come to terms with the fact that all their efforts have been in vain and that they are ashamed that they had been duped into sending money to a complete stranger. The shame can be so unbearable in fact, that it has driven people to take their own lives. A university student named Jaiyue Wang hanged herself after losing more than 6,000 British pounds to a Nigerian 419 scam. Wang, not knowing much English and lured by the promises of quick financial gains, was tricked by an email telling her she had won 500,000 pounds in a lottery she hadn't even entered. The case of Jaiyue Wang and many others like her falling for the promise of a modern day "get rich quick scheme" illustrates the dangers of giving out your private information on the Internet and remaining vigilant to spam and the dangers of high tech information exchange.
In the process of writing this blog post I referred to these websites:
http://www.scambusters.org/NigerianFee.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/7380093.stm
http://www.caslon.com.au/419scamnote.htm#statistics
Scams on the internet can be pretty easy to spot. Anything that practically says, "Give me your information now" is probably a scam of some kind. I believe that teenagers today and young adults turning adults have become more accustomed to the fact that there are scams out there and are not as gullible as other people who are more new to the internet scene. Something should be done to put a stop to scams like these.
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