[kerrsclyde]

The key point here is the credibility part. The Nigerian prince has no credibility. If you are approaching someone looking to solve a problem and you demonstrate competance via an extensive Github profile / blog your chances of a response are enormously increased I'd have thought.

[spacebanana7]

I've read (in Freakonomics I think) scam emails often have deliberately low credibility to "improve" the quality of warm leads.

High credibility emails that deceive digitally savvy people can create a lot of warm leads who take expensive resources in phone calls and human interaction, but often fail to convert to paying victims. At some point down they funnel they realise it's a scam.

Low credibility emails generate replies from less digitally literate people who're easier to convert into a paying victim when they reply. The response rate is lower of course, but sending another email is free.

[circuit10]

I wonder if tech savvy people are more likely to bait them to waste their time if the email is laughably bad

[gilleain]

The Nigerian Prince has millions of dollars, though. That is his credibility. After all, no one gets rich by accident.

[meiraleal]

ironically that's exactly how princes get rich

[gilleain]

Some do, others ruthlessly murder their rivals to get to be prince (in the sense of ruler, not 'son of the king'). Others have to win a power struggle to maintain the accident of birth that put them there.

[throwaway318]

They're a prince. Of course they have credibility. Of a country as populous and gifted in natural resources as Nigeria, even!

But I get your point, and eagerly await my spam with deposed princes' githubs profiles not stolen from MIT licenced projects, and blog photos not written by GPT and illustrated by DALL-E.

Perhaps what we need is a credibility coin, based on blockchain. Or a national ID card system. To prove I am who I am. As without it, I am not.

[DonHopkins]

It must really be frustrating to be a real Nigerian Prince who needs to launder a lot of money.