It's more commonly known as the "Nigerian Prince Scam". The scam itself is decades old, Email and Internet scam artists have ushered it into the 21st Century :)
Nigeria is associated with the scam and it was also known as 'Nigerian 419'. That's because the the first wave of these scams came from Nigeria. The '419' part of the name comes from the section of Nigeria's Criminal Code which outlaws the practice. These scams now come from anywhere in the world.
"I have $20M in US currency that needs to be moved out of the country as quickly as possible. If you have a US-based bank account that can do wire transfers I'll give you 4% in exchange for this transaction. The money came from my relative, a rich noble who unfortunately does not have any heirs in the US but decided to spend his later years in Florida and keep all of his money in a local bank so he could look after it personally."
"I am currently working overseas in Nigeria and would greatly appreciate any help. This has been a big point of pain in our family."
