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Democracy Is A Nigerian Scam
How the scam works, and why it’s so successful
For those who may be unaware of the term Nigerian Scam, it works like this: you fire up your computer one morning and you check your email. Sitting in your InBox is an email from a Nigerian prince who wants to transfer a large sum of money out of Nigeria to a bank in your country. Unfortunately, due to various crazy regulations in Nigeria, he needs someone to help him get it done. If you help him, he’ll pay you a significant helper’s fee. All you need to do is send him a few thousand dollars/pounds/euros/swiss francs to establish the connection between your bank account and his, and he’ll wire you several million within forty-eight hours, of which you’ll get to keep a certain percentage as a “thank you” for helping him in this important matter.
So much, so obvious. And although this scam began in Nigeria it’s since spread all over the globe. You can get a similar invitation on social media or pretty much anywhere online and from anyone anywhere in the world.
But what has this got to do with representative democracy?
To see the connection, we need to look a little deeper into how the scam works. Many people imagine the Nigerian Scam must be very sophisticated. Surely the scammer will do their very best to create an illusion of verisimilitude…
