how a nigerian letter scam works
this specific type of scam is generally referred to as a nigerian letter scam because of its prevalence in that country particularly during the 1990s section 419 of the nigerian criminal code makes this type of fraud illegal however this scam is not limited to nigeria and is also perpetrated by various organizations in countries around the world the origins of this scam are widely debated with some suggesting it started in nigeria during the 1970s while others suggest its origins go back hundreds of years to other confidence scams such as the spanish prisoner scam 1special considerationsthe nigerian letter scam was initially conducted by phone fax and traditional mail the proliferation of email provided a new route for the nigeran scam warning signs that a message might be a scam include mention of a u s currency account in a foreign country and the promise of substantial compensation for little effort as well as typos grammatical errors and unusual syntax 