Remember those scam emails that would show up in your inbox every now and then, where some down-on-their luck prince or princess is asking for your help to recover their fortune? Sure you do, we all do. These messages, usually from Nigeria, were always from shady looking email addresses, and littered with grammatical errors. I haven’t gotten one in a very long time, and I kind of miss them.

Since the first one hit my inbox years ago, I have been fascinated and confused by them. They must have...