Why do so many email scams come from Nigeria?

This is not about the Why, because it is simply not true that most scam emails come from Nigeria - they only claim to come from Nigeria. Microsoft even has some research on this. I have taken the liberty to lift a quote directly from one of the links as well..

- Largest no of scam emails do originate from US location ip addresses not Nigeria. http://research.microsoft.com/pu... And http://www.techrepublic.com/blog... addresses why Nigeria is the scapegoat and not necessarily the major culprit in fraud and scams.

- "It is Nigeria's dreadful reputation for corruption that makes the strange tales of dodgy lawyers, sudden death, and orphaned fortunes seem plausible in the first place." the Nigerian government has did a shoddy job of curbing this PR mess early enough thus cementing Nigeria's perception as that scam nation.

- this is not to say that a good number of young Nigerians were involved in scams in the last decade. This is due to huge gap between the rich and poor and limited options to cross from one divide to the other. Fraud and scam has indeed helped many of these ones to cross that divide and they've moved on to some more legit trades
(http://www.nairaland.com/2205408...) . More Youths are also looking to cross that divide via the arts - music and film. Others who continue to ply this shamed craft mostly do so from outside the country - Ghana and Malaysia being the commonest destinations.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-so-many...e-from-Nigeria

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