Mike you have obviously been watching the TV program called the "real" hustle. Most people who fall victim to scams of this kind are lured in by tapping into their basic greed.
There is hardly a week goes by that I havent won xxx million dollars or euros on a lottery I never entered into, and the number of cars and plasma tvs I have won is amazing. I have to laugh when I get these emails because I despise competitions and cant remember having entered one since I was a small child and my dad used to place bets on the Grand National (a famous UK horse race for you non Brits) for me.
I must be the only person who ever went to Las Vegas and never gambled (I was there all expenses paid for a conference).