WKU News
WKU Political Science Professor Featured in the Washington Post
- Zach Miller
- Monday, August 31st, 2015
When asked about this article, Dr. Rich responded: "I became interested in the so-called Nigerian email scam as a graduate student when I noticed the frequency and variety of emails I would receive. However, it was only a few years ago in which I started delving into the logic and patterns of the scam systematically. Speaking with scam specialists, I learned that the scammers were usually working in highly organized groups and testing variations of letters to see which generated more responses. In addition, a response rate of less than one-tenth of percent can still make the scam profitable. Using www.419scam.org, which catalog examples of scam emails, I could then look for broad patterns in over a half million emails rather than assume the ones I received were representative. For example, I was surprised to find only 12.6% of the letters referenced Nigeria. Less surprising was that higher money offers correlated with more references to trust, which suggests that the author knows it has to win over its target."
To find this article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/25/this-nigerian-prince-would-like-to-wire-you-75-million-dollars/
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