If you’ve ever received one of those ridiculous Nigerian 419 scams that offer you potentially millions of dollars for helping to move some suspect funds, and wondered why scammers keep sending them, I have your answer. Because they work!

Australian media recently reported how a bunch of 419 scammers from West Africa duped an Australian out of more than $1.7 million by persuading him to pay up-front fees to help win a lucrative business contract.

The contract naturally didn’t exist and authorities in the Netherlands managed to catch the scammers who were part of a large organized crime ring believed to have duped numerous victims out of anywhere between $8,700 and $4 million.

And closer to home, in January of this year a county treasurer in Michigan was arrested for investing more than $1 million in county funds in a 419 scam, even though he had previously been warned of the fraud dangers.

So why do these scams work? For the same two reasons most scams work – because the scams get more creative and believable, and because they rely on a very small percentage of recipients to be foolish enough or greedy enough to fall for the bait.