dug 
from Zimbabwe and from zdnet (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-918960.html)
Six people were arrested in South Africa over the weekend on suspicion of being involved in the infamous “Nigerian” e-mail and letter fraud.
I thought this was just a variation (different scale, different location) on the classic New York con that goes along the line of “would you just hang on to my money for a few minutes”… (this is sort of like the “pigeon drop”)
It’s funny, this type of thing used to be really popular in New York - it was like getting mugged, everyone had a story to tell…