PayPal isn't in this business to do justice. Nigeria's market size to risk factor is extremely bad, and perception of it generally is not improving. There is no point for them to absorbing the risk.
Any given day I can dive into my spam folder and see at least a dozen of Nigerian scam offers, perhaps that explains the general perception. While on the dawn of the Web there was a number of places deemed to be sources of fraud (e.g. much of Eastern Europe), most of them got a grip on electronic crime, and their reputations improved. It's long overdue for Nigeria to get their act together.
> It's long overdue for Nigeria to get their act together.
What do you mean by get their act together? In my experience living in a third world country, it's hard enough to get the establishment to prosecute violent crimes. So I'd say as an ordinary citizen it's pretty much impossible to get anyone who matters to take electronic crime seriously.
Great point, and a lesson that has already been learned (in a positive way) by the insurance business in England.
Elephant & Castle was once an area in London where you couldn't get insurance easily, if at all.
It took the founder of a business incubator there to call a few friends in the insurance business with the same argument: "how will you ever take advantage of this market if you don't start somewhere? I will do whatever it takes on my premises for you to be comfortable giving me insurance. After you're comfortable with doing business with me, you'll have first-mover advantage in the area." It worked.
Of course, insurance is a slightly more competitive business than online payments.
And I see Oo's point in the addendum too. Running a business is time-consuming. Saying you've identified a market gap so you should start ANOTHER business is patronising and ridiculous. And whether or not there is more fraud from any specific country doesn't excuse the laziness of a policy that unfairly prejudices and overburdens honest businesspeople from that country.
