The History of the Nigerian Prince Scam

In today's world, there are a ton of scams, especially online. It seems like everywhere you look there’s another one popping up, ranging from IRS scams, to fake product sales, to tech support scams, and many, many more. However, when we think of scams, surely the classic Nigerian prince scam - also called a 419 scam because of the section of the Nigerian criminal code that deals with fraud - comes to mind. After all, it's an old scam that is so widely known that it has become a common trope. But what are the origins of this classic scam? Well, in order to look at the origins of this scam, we must first understand what it is.

The Nigerian prince scam has some variations, but the general gist of it is that a person contacts you claiming to be a Nigerian prince who wants to share their fortune with you. H0wever, for one reason or another, their money is inaccessible/hard to transfer and in order to access the money and/or send it to you, they need to pay a fee because of taxes, bank fees, needing to bribe government officials, etc. Therefore, they need you to send them money and, according to them, once you do, they will send you a large sum of money in return. In reality, there is no fortune and once you send them money you will never see it again. The Nigerian Prince scam adapts with time and the details change to match with current events. For example, Nigerian princes can become a Ukrainian businessman who needs to get their money to a safe place due to the war.

This scam is far from unique. Rather, it is simply a form of the advance-fee scam, which is a very old and common scam that takes many forms. At is basic level, an advance-fee scam is where a person is promised a large financial gain in exchange for simply fronting the scammer some money. Another classic form of the advance-fee scam is the old Spanish Prisoner scam, which dates back to the 19th century and is where a person falsely tells the victim that they are imprisoned in Spain and if the victim raises money to help secure the release of the scammer, then the victim will receive a reward. And the Spanish Prisoner scam was not even the first of it's kind, as the fake prisoner scam dates back to at least the French Revolution. Other versions of advance-fee scams include fake job offers that require an upfront payment, the lottery scam, romance scams, investment scams, and many more.

Regarding the Nigerian prince variant of the advance-fee scam in particular, it appears to have originated (at least by some accounts) from newspaper ads that ran in the early twentieth century that claimed to be ran by a Nigerian prince looking for pen pals. Once he found his pen pals, he would ask for a small amount of money (and, interestingly, an old pair of pants) and in return he promised he would send riches. Many people sent the alleged prince the money and pants he requested. However, as you likely guessed, once the money was sent, no riches ever arrived. After the post office and other authorities received a bunch of complaints and reports about this scam, they investigated and discovered an American named Bil M0rrison was behind it. And the best part is he was only fourteen years old. Other early examples of Nigerian Prince scams, and similar scams that implicated Nigeria, also exist. Because this scam proved successful, copycats emerged and eventually it made its way onto the internet.

Unfortunately, this scam is not a relic of the past and is very much still ripping people off. And anyone can fall victim if they aren't careful enough, even Harvard professors. Many people are still being fooled by this and similar scams. It is therefore important that we stay on the lookout for scams, and that we also lookout for loved ones who may be more susceptible to scams.

In order to protect yourself and your loved ones from scams, it is important to be wary of unsolicited offers, especially if your common sense says it is too good to be true. Do some research before sending anyone money to be sure that you are sending money to a legitimate place and don't let people pressure you into making immediate decisions without giving you the time to think about it and do your due diligence. Additionally, there are many organizations and agencies that keep track of common scams, take reports of scams, support victims of scams, and provide guidance to help avoid scams in the first place.

Even though these scams have been around for a long time, they don't have to be around forever. Let's all do our part to end them but preventing them from finding victims!