Think about the pitch:  you'll be able to retire early with $10 million (or more) if you send a Nigerian prince a couple thousand dollars and a lot of personal information in advance.Sound ridiculous?  It is.

"It's 100 percent fraud.  And if you do that, you're never going to see your money again," said Chicago's Chief Postal Inspector Tom Brady.  He admits, even he's gotten the e-mails.

If you take the bait, you'll receive a lot of genuine-looking documents, but eventually you'll be asked to send them something in order to get the ball rolling.  They may call it a "handling fee."

"A problem generally arises in this.  And when that happens, they're going to ask you for more money," Brady said.

Nearly all of the e-mails come from one city in Nigeria:  Lagos.  And that prince?  He's likely some guy, sitting in an Internet cafe, blasting out thousands of identical messages to "lucky" winners just around the world.

Why?  Because believe it or not, people do respond.

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