Comment by deaddodo
6 months ago
> Much like how "419" or "Nigerian prince" refers to scams coming out of a specific region.
419 refers more to a type of scam than a region. In some ways, it's almost synonymous with "online scam" these days.
The name simply originates with Nigeria, and continues to associate with it due to the sheer scale of online scams coming out of the region.
"419" refers to the Nigerian criminal code section which defines the type of scam:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20050308040611/http://www.nigeri...>
Much as with other toponyms, the origins are in fact region-specific, though the term has become more general with time.
The generic term is "advanced-fee scam":
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam>
> the name simply originates with Nigeria
Maybe ingest the entire comment you're replying to first. Especially if you're simply going to agree with me in the very next point:
> though the term has become more general with time