How CBS News tracked down Ghanaian romance scammers duping Americans into parting with huge sums of money

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, "Nigerian Prince" emails became infamous — typically involving someone claiming to be royalty and asking for money that they promised would be paid back with a hefty commission added once the purported royal offspring came into his inheritance.  Woman: What's my cut?Ayivor: How about $100,000?Woman: $250 000. Without me, everyone gets nothing. I could always call him [John] and say it was a scam.  Ayivor: That's where we stand with John, one week in Ghana with Grace.Woman: Yuck. He's so gross.Ayivor: One week + TLCWoman: I am not opening my legs for him. 

Most people know by now that these outlandish claims are a scam. But as internet connectivity became cheaper and more accessible on the African continent, those scams have morphed into something far more sophisticated, and much harder to recognize.

I have traveled with a CBS News team to Ghana fairly often, and every time we've visited, we'd hear about so-called romance scams. For more than a year, CBS News has been investigating the devastating toll that overseas-based scams are taking on Americans of all ages and background. The amount of money flowing from American victims to fraud syndicates has topped $10 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission. And that number, experts say, is almost certainly an undercount.