Ghana, one of the largest gold producers on the continent, has taken a firm step against criminals who target international business investors. The government sends security officers to the airports for routine checks.

"The government of Ghana routinely dispatches security agents to the international airport in Accra; the security personnel invite visiting foreigners and their Ghanaian or African hosts to the airport police station for questioning when the hosts (upon arrival at the airport to pick up their guests) appear suspicious," said Yaw Owusu, managing director of Gateway Innovations in Ghana, which manages a technology park.

Greed and the desire to make quick money have been given as major reasons why people fall into these scams, but gullibility and loneliness have also been advanced as reasons why people continue to pay attention to scammers.

"Lonely people are more vulnerable to cyberscams, and they seek to fill the emotional void in their lives with relationships established in cyberspace. Secondly, the more naïve, the less educated and less exposed a person is to different people, a variety of life experiences, the more susceptible he or she becomes to scams of any form," Owusu said.

Although the scams are common in Africa, according to a 2009 report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, cybercrimes originating from African countries made up only 10 percent of the reported number of victim complaints, with the U.S. and U.K. comprising more than 75 percent of the total.