The scammers, generally based in Nigeria / West Africa,
copy real ads and real photos of actual rental properties or homes in attractive neighborhoods and pretend to be local owners.
Incentives push toward keeping and
copying data rather than deleting it — and using it to, say, quietly target the credulous with
ads for snake oil, limit the groups who see certain
real estate
ads or serve African - American voters with
ads designed to depress Election Day turnout.