Also known as '419 scams', so named after the relevant article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (yep, that's a thing)

There's a hilarious article floating around the interwebz where this guy stsrted a correspondance with his scammer. They sent emails back and forth for months, with the scammer eagerly believing that he was getting closer and closer to getting money out of the guy. In the meantime, the supposed 'scam-ee' weaved this huge backstory about how his he'd recently come into a large sum of money but had broken up with his gay lover and had no one to share it with. Eventually he told the scammer he had fallen in love with him, and asked to meet him so he could give him the money in person. He never heard from the guy again.

If I can find it, Ill post it. It's high-larious.