You may see emails with requests for help; there are usually awards associated with the requests. The rewards can range from artifacts to large sums of money or treasures. These types of emails are also known as advance fee scams. This type of scam dates back to the medieval times. The scam is not limited to only one payment; if the victim makes the payment for the first bait, they are usually lured into making several other payments.

A very popular email scam that prevailed during the early 2000s was that of the Nigerian prince. The messages were received via email or fax and were tagged as urgent. The sender was supposedly a member of Nigerian royalty that needed thousand of dollars, but promised to pay it back as soon as possible.