# Nigerian Scams > Nigerian Scams, also known as 419 scams, are advance-fee fraud emails from the late 1990s featuring a supposed Nigerian prince offering a cut of wealth in exchange for banking help. Nigerian Scams, also called 419 scams or the "Nigerian Prince" email, are one of the internet's oldest and most recognizable forms of advance-fee fraud. The scam involves emails from a supposed wealthy figure, often a Nigerian royal or government official, requesting help moving a large sum of money in exchange for a cut of the profits[5]. What started as a postal scheme in the late 1970s became an early internet punchline by the late 1990s, spawning an entire counter-culture of scam-baiting communities and countless memes mocking the transparent absurdity of the pitch[2]. ## Origin The roots of this scam go back centuries. The earliest known version is "The Letter from Jerusalem," documented in the memoirs of Eugène François Vidocq, a French criminal-turned-detective, around the early 1800s[2][5]. In that version, the pitch involved helping a nobleman escape prison in exchange for a share of hidden treasure. The scheme resurfaced during the Spanish-American War era as the "Spanish Prisoner" con, where a syndicate of scam artists sent letters referencing real-world events to make their stories more believable[2]. American con artists ran this variant through the postal system for decades. The modern Nigerian version took shape during the corrupt years of the Second Nigerian Republic between the late 1970s and early 1980s[3]. Nigerian scammers began mailing letters to targets overseas, posing as royals, military officials, or petroleum executives sitting on millions in frozen government funds. The name "419" comes from Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, which deals with fraud[2][5]. - **Platform:** Postal mail (original scheme), Email / Usenet (internet spread) - **Creator:** Unknown (organized fraud networks originating in Nigeria's Second Republic era) - **Date:** Late 1970s (postal), late 1990s (internet) ## Overview The Nigerian Scam is a type of advance-fee fraud where a scammer poses as a wealthy or politically connected person, typically claiming to be a Nigerian prince, government official, or businessperson. The email asks the recipient to help transfer a large sum of money out of a foreign country. In return, the recipient is promised a percentage of the fortune, usually 10-30%[11]. The catch: before any money arrives, the victim must pay a series of "fees," "taxes," or "bribes" that escalate until the mark runs out of money or catches on[5]. The emails are famous for their stilted language, uppercase text, misspellings, and wildly implausible storylines involving trapped funds, murdered dictators, and dying cancer patients desperate to give away millions[10]. This poor quality is actually strategic. Microsoft researcher Cormac Herley demonstrated in a 2012 paper that the obvious red flags work as a filter: by making the pitch so absurd that only the most gullible respond, scammers save themselves the cost of pursuing dead-end leads[1][12]. ## How It Spread Through the 1980s and 1990s, the scam migrated from postal mail to fax machines[3]. But the real explosion came in the late 1990s with the rise of email and spambot software, which made it nearly free to blast millions of messages worldwide[5]. By the early 2000s, the "Nigerian Prince" email was one of the most recognized forms of spam on the internet, hitting inboxes across the English-speaking world at industrial scale[7]. The financial damage was real. American victims alone lost over $700,000 to 419 scams in 2018[9]. One Nigerian fraudster received a 12-year prison sentence after scamming $1.3 million from victims[1]. The FBI identified these schemes under the broader category of advance-fee fraud and began tracking business email compromise (BEC) attacks that evolved from the same social engineering playbook[9]. As awareness grew, the scam stopped being just a threat and became a punchline. The absurd language of the emails turned into copypasta material, and "I am a Nigerian prince" became internet shorthand for any transparently fraudulent pitch[8]. The scam's cultural footprint spread across forums, social media, and comedy shows. ## How to Use The Nigerian Scam is typically referenced as a meme in a few common ways: 1. **The copypasta format**: Share or parody the classic email text, often with exaggerated misspellings and ALL CAPS. Common setups include "Dear Beloved" or "I am a Nigerian prince" followed by an absurd request for financial help[11]. 2. **Punchline shorthand**: Reference "Nigerian prince" as a joke about anything that sounds too good to be true, overly suspicious, or transparently fraudulent. 3. **Scam-baiting content**: Create or share content where someone wastes a scammer's time with ridiculous counter-requests, fake identities, or elaborate pranks[13]. 4. **Image macros and reaction memes**: Pair stock photos or reaction faces with captions referencing Nigerian prince emails, usually to mock gullibility or overly trusting behavior[8]. ## Cultural Impact The Nigerian Prince scam crossed over from email nuisance to genuine cultural landmark. It became a universal reference point for online fraud, so deeply embedded in internet literacy that "Nigerian prince" functions as shorthand for any implausible get-rich-quick pitch[7]. Academic researchers treated the scam as a case study in social engineering and behavioral economics. Herley's Microsoft Research paper became widely cited in cybersecurity literature for its insight that apparent incompetence in scam design is actually a rational optimization strategy[12]. The scam-baiting community generated its own media ecosystem. Berry's *Greetings in Jesus' Name!: The Scambaiter Letters* compiled 419eater.com's best exchanges into a book[6]. The Atlantic profiled the movement in 2007, comparing scam-baiters to "the T cells of the Internet's immune system"[10]. BBC Radio 2, Channel 4's *Secrets of the Scammers*, CBC's *Dot.Con*, and Belgian TV show *Basta* all featured scam-baiting segments[6][4]. James Veitch hosted three TED talks about scam-baiting between 2015 and 2016, bringing the topic to a mainstream audience unfamiliar with 419eater.com culture[4]. Kitboga's "Do not redeem" clip, where a scammer watches helplessly as he redeems gift cards in character as an elderly woman, became one of the most shared scam-baiting memes[4]. Generative AI introduced a new wrinkle: scammers can now produce emails with fewer spelling mistakes and better grammar, potentially undermining the self-selection filter that made classic 419 emails so distinctive[7]. ## Fun Facts - The "Spanish Prisoner" precursor to the Nigerian Scam was partially enabled by media coverage of the Spanish-American War, which gave scam artists a pool of real-world context to make their stories believable[2]. - A 419eater.com member once convinced a scammer to carve a detailed wooden replica of a Commodore 64 computer[4]. - Cormac Herley's Microsoft paper used Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves from signal detection theory to model why bad grammar is actually optimal scam strategy[12]. - Nigeria's legal code Section 419 specifically addresses fraud, giving the scam its numeric nickname. The number is so well-known in Nigeria that "419" is local slang for fraud in general, including scams between Nigerians[2]. - Michael Berry of 419eater.com once got a scammer to send him $80, reversing the direction of the con entirely[13]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Nigerian Scam? The Nigerian Scam is a type of advance-fee fraud where a scammer poses as a wealthy foreign figure, often a Nigerian prince or government official, and asks for help transferring money out of their country. Victims are promised a large cut of the fortune but must first pay escalating "fees" that never stop until their money is gone[5][11]. ### Where did the Nigerian Scam come from? The modern version originated in Nigeria during the late 1970s and early 1980s, during the corrupt Second Nigerian Republic[3]. But the underlying confidence trick traces back to at least the early 1800s, with the "Letter from Jerusalem" documented in Eugène François Vidocq's memoirs[2][5]. ### What does the Nigerian Scam mean as a meme? As a meme, "Nigerian Prince" is shorthand for anything that sounds transparently fake or too good to be true. It's used to mock gullibility, reference spam culture, or make jokes about obvious fraud[8][7]. ### How do you use the Nigerian Scam meme? Reference the "Nigerian prince" format when joking about suspicious offers, fake promises, or online scams. You can also share or parody the classic email text with its signature stilted language and ALL CAPS[11][8]. ### Is the Nigerian Scam still popular? The classic email format is largely a cultural relic, but the social engineering techniques behind it evolved into modern threats like business email compromise and romance scams[9]. As a meme, the "Nigerian prince" reference is still widely understood and used[7]. ### Why are Nigerian Scam emails so badly written? Microsoft researcher Cormac Herley showed that the poor grammar and implausible stories act as a deliberate filter. By repelling everyone except the most gullible, scammers avoid wasting time on people who would never pay[1][12]. ### What does 419 mean? 419 refers to Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, which covers fraud. The number became synonymous with advance-fee scams and is used as local slang for fraud within Nigeria itself[2][5]. ### What is scam-baiting? Scam-baiting is the practice of posing as a potential victim to waste a scammer's time and resources. Communities like 419eater.com organized baiters who tricked scammers into performing absurd tasks, traveling long distances, or sending money in reverse[4][6]. ### Who is Shiver Metimbers? Shiver Metimbers is the alias of Michael Berry, a British computer engineer from Manchester who founded 419eater.com in 2003. He spent up to seven hours a day baiting scammers and built the site into the world's largest scam-baiting community[13][6]. ### How much money do Nigerian Scams make? In 2018, Americans alone lost over $700,000 to Nigerian prince-style scams[9]. One individual Nigerian fraudster was sentenced to 12 years in prison after scamming $1.3 million from victims[1]. The broader category of business email compromise costs billions worldwide[9]. ### What is the "Spanish Prisoner" scam? The Spanish Prisoner is the 19th-century precursor to the Nigerian Scam. Con artists sent letters claiming a wealthy prisoner needed financial help escaping, promising a share of their fortune in return. The format was adapted during the Spanish-American War and eventually became the template for modern 419 fraud[2][5]. ### Are Nigerian Scams actually from Nigeria? While Nigeria is most commonly associated with these scams, they originate from many countries, including Ivory Coast, Togo, South Africa, the Netherlands, Spain, and Jamaica. Nigeria's head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stated in 2007 that many scam emails claiming Nigerian origin actually come from elsewhere[5]. ## References 1. [Why Nigerian Scammers Say They're From Nigeria]() 2. [419 Eater - The World's Largest Scambaiting Community]() 3. [How That 'Nigerian Email Scam' Got Started : NPR]() 4. [Nigerian Scams - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Scam baiting]() 6. [Nigerian Scams - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [Advance-fee scam]() 8. [419eater.com]() 9. [What You Need to Know About Nigerian Prince Scams]() 10. [The Funniest Nigerian Scammer Memes That Will Make You Laugh | Assendelft]() 11. [The Nigerian prince scam is still fooling people. Here’s why.]() 12. [How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood - The Atlantic]() 13. [Nigerian (419) Scam | Snopes.com]() 14. [Why Do Nigerian Scammers Say They are From Nigeria? - Microsoft Research]() 15. [Baiters Teach Scammers a Lesson | WIRED]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/nigerian-scams Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library