I get 5 to 10 "lottery winning" emails a day at my isp (att) email. I once opened a po box (which I needed anyway) and gave one of them that address when it first started. According to them, I won $1 million but had to send them a $300 "processing fee". I never did, but do get lots of emails like that to this day. I figured it was less risky than actual gambling. I little old lady in California I knew (she wasn't from Pasadena), her name was Kim, fell for such a scheme by mail. I think she sent them $500.

"Greetings, friends. Do you wish to look as happy as me? Well, you've got the power inside you right now. So use it and send one dollar to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay. Eternal happiness is just a dollar away."
'Happy Dude'

"Hello, this is Homer Simpson aka Happy Dude! The court has ordered me to call every person in town to apologize for my telemarketing scam. I'm sorry. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, send one dollar to : Sorry Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. You have the power!
'Sorry Dude'

I am not sure this scam is related to the internet, but I can only imagine my grandparents fell for something that leaked their personal information. But it was back in 2009 when phone call scams about peoples children being hurt in Mexico while on vacation and then needed money to sent him to the USA for medical treatment.

Well, my grandparents received a phone call from someone pretending to be me and had basic info about me such as my name and age. But they called my grandparents saying that I was going to Niagara falls when a cop pulled me and some friends over and then found drugs on one of my friends. The person pretending to be me was begging and pleading for my grandparents not to tell my parents and swore up and down the drugs weren't mine and I needed them to send me $1000 for bail. So my grandparents tried for 3 days to get the money but did have it so they finally called my dad. At the time I had a blackberry storm on its last leg that couldn't receive phone calls and he couldn't get a hold of me. I went into work that after noon with emergency voices from my dad and bestfriends trying to locate me and find out if I was really in new York lol.

Scammers made a lot of noise for me but didn't get any money. I am now frequently getting emails label New York Police Department sending me photoradar tickets. Funny I've never been there...

I have cleaned up some computers that people installed fake anti-virus and such. I have had a 2 or 3 friends had their email taken over for a while. I have been called with phishing scams and have seen my share of email scams though I have never fallen for them. I did have someone make a charge on my credit card however the bank caught it before it became an issue. Looks like someone got the credit card info while I was on a vacation trip.