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You can trust me: a multimethod analysis of the Nigerian email scam

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Abstract

How do scammers invoke trust within the Nigerian email scam and how do recipients interpret such trust-laden offers? Rather than view the email content as static, this article suggests that the emails strategically appeal to trust as a means to enhance susceptibility. Content analysis of over a half-million scam emails reveals that references to trust language are most common in larger award claims and those claiming to be from Africa. However, experimental evidence suggests that trust language within scam letters has minimal influence on respondents’ perceptions of the letter. This analysis expands our understanding of the psychology behind the scam letter format and suggests means to further combat email fraud.

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Notes

  1. Several million email addresses can be purchased for under $500 (see Krebs 2011).

  2. One of the largest Nigerian scam payouts totaled $242 million, paid out by Nelson Sakaguchi, a director of Banco Noroeste Brazil (Haines 2004). The bank later filed for bankruptcy.

  3. See http://provalisresearch.com/products/content-analysis-software/wordstat-features/.

  4. An analysis of phrases within the body of emails was used to remove duplicate emails when identified.

  5. Access to the WordStat dictionaries are available upon request.

  6. For a summary of how MTurk samples compare to nationally representative surveys, see Huff and Tingley (2015) and Shank (2016).

  7. The two offers were chosen in that both were within the common range of offers within the half-million emails collected, but large enough to potentially elicit perceptual differences.

  8. This measure admittedly does not distinguish between references to the amount the victim will reportedly receive of the total amount of money claimed in the email.

  9. See Appendix 2 Table for summary statistics for the additional variables.

  10. The included words also include alternate spellings and misspellings of the included words.

  11. Trust references and the monetary offer are italicized for convenience but were not italicized in the web survey.

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  1. Political Science Department, Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY, 42101, USA

    Timothy Rich

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Correspondence to Timothy Rich.

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Rich, T. You can trust me: a multimethod analysis of the Nigerian email scam. Secur J 31, 208–225 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-017-0095-0

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