Currently the most visible form of the fraud is the Nigerian Letter or 419 fraud named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that it violates. Originally sent by fax machine the Nigerian Letter is now sent almost exclusively by email. The typical Nigerian letter claims to come from a person needing to transfer large sums of money ($20-$35 million) out of the country.

As the Nigerian letter variation of the fraud has become well known, the gangs operating the scams have developed numerous variations. The target is often told that they are the beneficiary of an inheritance or invited to impersonate a beneficiary of a large unclaimed estate.

In the variation of the fraud known as "The Spanish Prisoner" the target is told that a wealthy individual is being held hostage and will reward those who help transfer of the ransom money. Another common gambit is a fake lottery in which the target is told that they have 'won' a large prize but must pay an administrative fee before they receive it.

In a recent development of the scheme, the perpetrators use a counterfeit cashiers check to buy an expensive item such as a car or boat from people advertising goods in online classifieds. The target is then asked to forward part of the money to pay for shipping as soon as the check clears. Because banks in the USA are required by law to honor a check within 1-5 working days (even before a check has cleared)^[1], they will report the proceeds as available for withdrawal before the check is presented to the issuing bank for clearance and the fraud is discovered.