The 411 on the 419s
One of the hats I wear is 'scholar of 419 scammer emails', mostly those originating from Nigeria and West Africa. You can watch their evolution as they slowly market themselves to an American audience.
Only a couple years ago there was never a spiritual or Christian reference to be found. It was strictly a business transaction. Now more than half come titled "Beloved in Christ" or something like and are sprinkled throughout with "give God the glory", only to meander to the familiar "xx Million in U.S. Dollars" punchline. I don't much like the Christian references and the scholarly work has lost its flavor (on the bedpost over night). It feels like a sacrilege.
One can always tell a scammer mail by that tell-tale verbiage but how long before that goes? They must know that we know what are the dead giveaways in the scams, and how long will it be that their scams evolve to a point of much greater subtly?
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