The classic, mail-based Nigerian Scam was based on a widespread assumption of government corruption in an oil-rich African country like Nigeria, and the eagerness of its bureaucrats and elected officials to use graft, kickbacks, and over-invoicing to profit from that wealth - and, generously, to pass that wealth on to you should you choose to aid them in spiriting the money out of the country.

That respected bedrock of the artform is present here (in entries #12 and #28), but it has mostly run its course, and been overtaken by an evolution of the Scam better suited to our thrilling but confusing information age. The new, e-mail based Nigerian scam is more politically inspired, based on the reasonable assumption that survivors of Africa's kleptocrat leaders are constantly fleeing their countries with the nation's looted wealth during frequent interludes of civil strife. It's an evolution of the form that supposes a vague familiarity with African politics on the part of prospective victims, who are expected to nod sagely when reading the pleading e-mail: "Yes, I think I've heard of this Sani Abacha fellow."

The venue has widened, from Nigeria to places like that tragic hotspot of post-despotism, Zaire/The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Mobutu Sese-Seko's longstanding dictatorship was overthrown by Laurent Kabila's rebel insurrection, which was in turn toppled by an internal coup that benefitted Kabila's son. Civil chaos this extreme, even Shakespearean, implies endless opportunities for discrete looting of government funds.

This chart is meant as a useful checklist on variations of the Nigerian Scam, with each country given a colour code. The colour is carried along each row if the letter in question conforms to standard characteristics - I like to call them "venerable traditions" - of the form. Widow/offspring of dead dictator? Check. Subtle admission that money is looted government funds? Check. Asylum in Netherlands, or other connection with country? Check. Marks are often given for adhering to ancillary, but inspired, elaborations on the classic form: Deceitful Australian? Use of charming but archaic "modalities" phrase? Check and check.

In the case of the Congo, where wives and offspring of both Mobutu and Kabila are appealing for our help, a minor colour variation is used, which doesn't imply departure from classic form or loss of points. Entries from Zimbabwe, another major variation of the form, are marked according to their adherence to the venerable and heart-rending "murdered father's legacy".

Anomalous entries, like that of the Ukraine, or Miss Sandy Lee's charming effort, are left without an assigned hue. Departure from form early on is almost always a disqualifying mark. Promising innovations - like Abu Bello's plea (#39) for funds for a "peace campaign" against, one assumes, war with Iraq - are watched carefully, however; an anomalous entry can turn out to be the harbinger of a whole new style in the creatively rich 419 genre.

The final judging criterion, of course, is an invocation of the indefinable but reassuring "private security company" as a safe harbour for funds. Creative departures from the classic form - the gem stones or the "suspense account" - are appreciated, of course, but contribute little to the final tally. As in judging Olympic sports or ballroom dancing, creativity is appreciated, but a display of classic form is inevitably more valued. If, say, the "gem stone" variation becomes more accepted, however, it will be added to the judging criteria and scored accordingly.

    - R.Mc.