11. The Scam Exploits Americans’ Lack of Understanding About Africa
For the Nigerian prince scam to be successful, people have to be convinced that they are helping someone on the other side of the world; a part that they know very little about and therefore will not think to question. The people who fall for the scam probably think of Africa as exotic, primitive, tribal, and unpolluted. The vast majority of people probably still live in small tribal villages, which are ruled by a wealthy chieftain who is dripping in jewels, honor, and traditional values. They would probably be very shocked to travel to Nigeria and see what the country is actually like.
In reality, parts of Nigeria are quite modern. Far from being technologically impoverished, about half of Nigerians have regular Internet access. Nigeria doesn’t even have a monarchy, and as such, there is no royal family. Instead, Nigeria has a democratic government that somewhat resembles that of the United States. It even has a voter turnout that rivals that of the United States. People who propagate the Nigerian prince scam hope that you aren’t aware of any of these things. They want you to believe that it is a developing country with a superabundance of royals.