[ExI] could a nigerian theoretically give away money?

[Kelly Anderson]

2011/12/25 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
> Imagine this scenario.  A lone Nigerian cooks up some really cool idea,
> Microsloth buys it, so now the software developer has a ton of money,

<snip>

> How many pseudo-spam messages would she need to send out before anyone would
> fall for the truth?

>From the research I did a few years ago, the response rate to spam is
3-4 per 100,000. So if people haven't gotten any smarter over the past
few years, the answer would probably be somewhere around 25,000
emails.

Even more interesting is how many emails or chat messages would a
person, say in Uganda need to send out before finding someone who
would help them to pay tuition to go to school? This is a perfectly
legitimate need, from a perfectly legitimate student... Well, in the
case of at least one Ugandan, a James Mukasa, I don't know how many
people he had to contact, but eventually he did run into me. And after
jumping through some hoops, to prove he was actually a student, I paid
his tuition. Now we have an ongoing relationship where I give him
advise, and the occasional bit of money, and pretty soon now, I think
we'll figure out some little import business that hopefully will make
us both a few bucks. Being nice to people in need can, perhaps,
eventually be profitable for all concerned.

The only downside for me is that Africans tend to be VERY thankful...
and that does get old after a while... LOL.

-Kelly