Editing Advance-fee scam (section)

===Motives===
{{See also|Economic history of Nigeria}}

Many scammers tend to come from poorer and more-educated backgrounds, where Internet access and better education, along with inability to afford basic necessities, drive people into committing online fraud. They could also have been influenced by social media celebrities and artists who promote scamming as a "cool" trend to quickly gain access to luxury items like sports cars and fashion.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clinton |first1=Helen |last2=Abumere |first2=Princess |title=Hushpuppi - the Instagram influencer and international fraudster |work=BBC News |date=14 September 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58553109 |access-date=16 May 2022}}</ref>

In the case of Nigeria, the rise in scamming cases was due to a boom in cybercafes, a series of economic crashes from the 1980s, and the resulting joblessness among young people in Nigeria.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Lin |first1=Sharon |title=The Long Shadow of the 'Nigerian Prince' Scam |url=https://www.wired.com/story/nigeria-cybersecurity-crime-antiblackness/ |magazine=Wired|date=18 April 2022 |access-date=16 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Akinwotu |first1=Emmanuel |title=Young, qualified and barely scraping by – inside Nigeria's economic crisis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/young-qualified-and-barely-scraping-by-inside-nigerias-economic-crisis |website=The Guardian |date=14 June 2021 |access-date=16 May 2022}}</ref>