[takluyver]

I've been nearly taken in by a similar scam done by e-mail: a message from an aunt, saying that her handbag had been stolen while she was in Spain, and she urgently needed some money to sort things out and get home.

It needs a target who's close enough to care, but not so close that they know the details are wrong (as far as I knew, my aunt could have been in Spain). The apparent theft can stop a credulous target from trying to phone the person.

Finally, it only needs to work occasionally to pay off, and the OP mentions having over 1000 Skype contacts.