Unfortunately, there are enough idiots out there that these Nigerian Letter spammers actually rake in millions. I saw an interview with one of the spammers on Dateline or something like that. The same show where the guy actually set up a realistic fake bank complete with tellers and customers just for show for his scammed client. And Nigeria doesn't really have any laws against it. It exists in a "grey area" that skirts around enforcable law there... and the law is usually paid off by a good chunk of change from the spammer's profits. That's one of the reason these guys mostly work out of Nigeria.
The guy said that 99% of their targets are Americans because American's are the most gullible. More Americans own computers than in any other country, and only about 50% or less really know anything about how to really work with them or spot/troubleshoot problems or reccognise scams. Heck, only about 50% of people use an updated virus scanner. Almost every home in the US has a computer in it but very few of those people who own them actually know how to USE them or protect them.
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