LOL - over here it's known as the Nigerian 419 scam and I think for us it started with fax machines and snail mail.....
Still, people fall for it:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29410.html
I've also seen something which reckons that every day there is at least 1 person waiting in one of London's hotels to meet their contact bringing them a suitcase full of cash. They tend to wait quite a while....