I found this pretty amusing (hat tip The Influence Peddler):

We all know those Nigerian E-mail scams — we need your help securing $100 million, all we need is an American bank account and a small fee. Most of us, being normal people, delete them. Robert Hickam, aka Barrister Jubril, is not a normal person. He replies. This is his story.

My favorite "project" so far is
The one that started it all. But Body by Jake is also pretty funny too.

Please note that responding to scammers can be a very risky business. I would not do it myself. Another scammer baiting website offers the following warning (along with useful tips and tricks)..

WARNING

Please remember that these people are CRIMINALS and should be treated as such. Under no circumstances must you enter into any communications with these people unless you feel you are adequately prepared to deal with them.

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES give them ANY real private information about yourself. These guys may appear dumb and clueless, but I suspect it wouldn't be so funny if you were to come face-to-face with one of them, although I'll be the first to admit the chances of this happening are astronomical - unless of course you are dumb enough to fly over to meet them in person, in which case you need to be sectioned ASAP!

The tips below are for INFORMATION ONLY. 419eater.com cannot be held responsible for what you decide to do with the information. If you are unsure of what you are doing please LEAVE WELL ALONE!

But these websites allow you to enjoy the sport of scammer baiting while sitting safely on the sidelines.

(civil comments only please)

Update: By coincidence, the following new thematic twist on scamming managed to evade the GMail antispam filter:

Greetings,
With due respect, pardon me for this letter. This is a genuine matter of utmost importance and immense mutual benefit which must be kept highly confidential. It is with genuine interest and trust that I have contacted you.

I am Captain Smith Scott of the US Marine Force on Monitoring and Peace keeping mission in Baghdad, Iraq. On the 20th day of November 2006, we were alerted on the sudden presence of some Terrorists camping in a suburb not too far from Karbala here in Iraq. After immediate intervention, we captured three (3) of the Terrorists, twenty-six (26) were killed leaving seven (7) injured.

In the process of torture they confessed being rebels for late Ayman al-Zawahiri and took us to a cave in Karbala which served as their camp. Here we recovered several guns, bombs and other Ammunitions including some boxes among which two contains suspected nuclear weapons, one filled with hard drugs (cocaine) and the other four to my amazement contain some US Dollars amounting to $10.2M. After I and two of my junior intelligent officers counted them, I however instructed them to keep this in high secrecy.

I am in keen need of a "Reliable" and "Trustworthy" person who would receive, secure and protect these boxes containing the US Dollars for me until my assignment elapses here in Iraq. I assure and promise you will not regret this deal. However feel free to negotiate what you wish to have as your percentage in this business. Assure me of you keeping this in utmost secrecy to protect my job with the US Monitoring and Peace Keeping mission. I will be waiting to hear from you as soon as possible to proceed.

If you are interested to work with me in good faith and honesty, get back to me. Endeavor to let me know your decision rather than keep me waiting.

Thanks in anticipation of a favorable response.

Sincere regards,
Captain Smith Scott.
US MARINE FORCE