I used to think sophistication was the game, but when I brought up the obviousness of Nigerian prince scams with someone, I was told that the poor quality is a tactic. That is, these scams use scale, so the idea is that mediocre scams will weed those people out who are able to discern the scam and select for those who are easily manipulated. This increases the chances that you'll be able to scam the person.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...

``` By sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select, and tilts the true to false positive ratio in his favor. ```