How Nigereian dead-relative scams work at TruthorFiction.com.

I get 3 or more of these a day. One of the funniest:
"DEAR RESPECTFUL ONE,
PERMIT ME TO INFORM YOU OF MY DESIRE OF GOING INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU. I GOT YOUR CONTACT FROM THE INTERNET WEDSITE. I PRAYED OVER IT AND SELECTED YOUR NAME AMONG OTHER NAMES DUE TO IT'S ESTEEMING NATURE AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS GIVEN TO ME AS A REPUTABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON I CAN DO SOMETHING WITH AND BY THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS I MUST NOT HESITATE TO CONFIDE IN YOU FOR THIS SIMPLE AND SINCERE BUSINESS."
[--yeesh!]

They hook you, and right before they send the money, ask you to plonk down a wad of cash for some reason. Sounds reasonable, right? You only have to deposite a few thousand to get 5 million. Of course, they just take your money and run.

Watch out for the "You have won a gazillion dollars in the whatever lottery" ones. Same scam, different setting.