I’m Sister Maria. Please help me’

A lexical study of 4-1-9 international advance fee fraud email communications

Bibliographic Data

ID12898568
AuthorsUche Onyebadi (0000-0003-4951-5067, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, corresponding author), Jiwoo Park (0000-0002-0181-7405, Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Year2012
Volume74
Issue2
Pages181-199
Publication date2012-02-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Communication Gazette (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-0485 • E-ISSN: 1748-0493
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1748048511432602
OpenAlexW2023039401
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited26

4-1-9 is a multi-billion-dollar international email scam that is believed to have originated from Nigeria. This study examines the framing of email communications used in this fraud and content-analyzes their lexical features. Findings indicate that the scammers used Realism as the main persuasive lexical characteristic in the messages, that is, language that suggests meeting tangible needs in people’s everyday lives. The scammers also framed their messages as ‘business’ proposals to disguise their fraudulent tactics and plans. But while the scam may have originated from Nigeria, it appears that it may no longer be operationally restricted to that country

Advertising · Art · Business · Framing (construction · Internet privacy · Liberian dollar · Literature · Political science · Realism · Sister · Sociology · Computer Science · Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · History · Law · Spam and Phishing Detection · Finance

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