Certain cities in countries like Nigeria and Morocco have become fraud “Silicon Valleys” where there’s quite literally tens of thousands of people collaborating and sharing best practices on how best to scam Americans and Europeans. This will only get worse with AI.
When I worked for a certain large inbox provider a few years back, I was astonished at the volume of fraud and phishing attempts that actually originate from these countries. And it’s amazing how centralized it is in certain cities.
Most people have no idea that a significant portion of the local economy in places like Lagos is driven by internet fraud, and due to local corruption it’s nearly impossible to prosecute.
If 100,000 Nigerians were physically pillaging a countries land and stealing physical assets that country historically would immediately go to war. The fact that this doesn’t matter as much since its all digital may need to be re-evaluated now that our financial lives are almost entirely digital. Western countries are going to have to finally put their foot down at some point.
Who said that? Can easily inflict pain via sanctions and other means to get the corrupt Nigerian government to meaningfully do something.
Nigeria is not like Russia, they do not have super valuable energy resources nor a scary military they can lord over the rest of the world with.
By allowing this activity it actually hurts Nigeria the most as it prevents the country from ever developing the institutions and international trust necessary for economic development.
It is good to hear that it is coming from countries which has been played by the Western World on the globalization front. Then ripping off those who profited from their low status and relevance on the world market gives it a nice Robin Hood touch.
Scammers prey on the most vulnerable, mentally handicapped people, and even their own neighbors.
Ask Nigerians how they feel about the fact they can’t interact with most western institutions or develop economically due to the actions of their worst neighbors.
It may surprise you to learn the largest population of victims of Nigerian scammers are other Nigerians. The dollar figures may not reach $1T (since Nigeria is poor) but it actively inhibits every day life in these countries and leads to the economic deadzone that is a low trust society.
As California learned, decriminalizing theft does not help the poor, in fact it disproportionately affects them the most.
> Ask Nigerians how they feel about the fact they can’t interact with most western institutions due to the actions of their worst neighbors.
How about you ask Nigerians how they are besides this topic? You think everything is good in Nigeria if it wouldn't be for that scam-issue?
In fact, you are displaying your own luxury believes here. It seems you think those scammers would have a normal job if they wouldn't be scamming people. Like, they have a choice. Yes, many Nigerians are scammed by other Nigerians. I am aware of that, but if "scamming" wouldn't be possible, those people would do other criminal things to their own people and the reason is that those countries have severe economic problems making it hard for normal people to have a life the way we live here in the beautiful West.
Them scamming their way into the West is as a small payback on the same road as the globalized markets operate. Those scammers rip off Westerners who profit from those same roads and the rip off their Western companies practice in the scammers home countries.
So yeah, I did hear that strategy already. It is an attempt at hacking my radicalized social behavior through the backdoor, while simultaneously diverting attention from those who actually hurt people in those countries: western politicians and companies. You will fail more often now with this strategy since the wave is rolling back and there are not many other strategies of diversion. They were never needed before.
Ask any of the Asian tiger economies that were formerly victims of colonialism how they economically developed out of poverty.
Developing trusted institutions leads to outside investment. Outside investment leads to growth. Growth leads to not being poor. When nobody will invest in Nigeria because nobody actually trusts they won’t get bamboozled, this is a fundamental chicken and egg problem.
Again, I would strongly suggest re-examining the luxury robinhood narrative you have in your head.
This is your answer? "Read the books on economics"? As if it would be some kind of scientific guideline? Seriously? This is your answer while simultaneously looking at the world RIGHT NOW?
A quick catch up for you: those books didn't work. Economics is not a science. You can not use it to generate predictions. It's single useful outcome is a historical one.
> Ask any of the Asian tiger economies
Why should I? It is obvious that some things work in some countries, while the same things might not work just behind the border. Other things might work for some time before they fall apart again because the ground issues with the system are being ignored or circumvented the way you try to do it here.
Nigeria is a very good example here btw. It is a growing economy. An emerging market. It has plenty of resources and the situation could be better for all Nigerians there.
But it isn't. Widespread corruption, and the fact that there is an energy crisis putting brakes on the development show that something is off.
The main income for the country comes from oil exports. Within the country, oil products needs to be heavily subsidized. Due to the lack of refineries, the oil products need to be bought back from abroad. So who does profit from this scheme? Surely not the Nigerian majority. Their top 5 export partners are: China (23%), Netherlands and Belgium with each 10% and India and the US with ~6%.
Their main import goods are: Petroleum oils, etc, and Durum wheat.
They are being ripped off. In this case, mainly by China, profiting from the corrupt structures which run Nigeria and the population is forced to scam to make a living and not being able to make a change.
Put away your books and your arrogant westerner attitude. Look at the reality out there. It is happening right now.
Most people dramatically underestimate how widespread their cultural moral system is. Billions of people live in cultures where scamming is perfectly moral.
Honestly, I don't think it's been fast. We're just in the final phases. It's been building for decades. Venerating making money over all else and justifying anything as long as it's profitable and you get away with it has been going on for a while. Everyone sees the very wealthy and politically connected getting away with crimes and things that should be crimes, and that culture of money above all spreads.
Corruption starts at the top, but eventually it's everywhere.
For today's whataboutism: billions of people live in cultures where buying the best-priced product and not noticing or ignoring the slave labour or environmental costs in the production chain is perfectly moral.
When I worked for a certain large inbox provider a few years back, I was astonished at the volume of fraud and phishing attempts that actually originate from these countries. And it’s amazing how centralized it is in certain cities.
Most people have no idea that a significant portion of the local economy in places like Lagos is driven by internet fraud, and due to local corruption it’s nearly impossible to prosecute.
If 100,000 Nigerians were physically pillaging a countries land and stealing physical assets that country historically would immediately go to war. The fact that this doesn’t matter as much since its all digital may need to be re-evaluated now that our financial lives are almost entirely digital. Western countries are going to have to finally put their foot down at some point.