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The bank is telling him it was Nigerian scammers.

Did he give out any banking details to email correspondents, ostensibly to facilitate funds transfers or such (just not the ones he was expecting)?

Recently, I've received several emails offering easy and lucrative part-time work, such as this one from "Dr Steve Bruce":

I would be very interested in offering you a part-time paying job in which you could earn up to $7,000 a month as extra income. opening an account would have been my best choice if I was not working on a deadline that must meet a 24 hour turn around time,other options are not on my side due to time, money, and requirements.
JOB DESCRIPTION: Work as my payment assistant in charge of collecting and processing the payments from the associates. 1. Receive payment (checks) from my Clients 2. Cash the Payments at your Bank 3. Deduct 10%, which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed. 4. You will then forward the balance via Western Union Money Transfer according to my instruction.
REQUIREMENT:
18 years or older. Responsible, Reliable and Trustworthy Available to work a minimum 3-4 hours per week. Able to check and respond to emails often. Easy telephone access.
IS THIS LEGAL? YES It is very legal, Doing this job is 100% safe and legal. I would be glad if you accept my proposal for an opportunity to make up 10% of each transaction completed.
HAVE YOU HANDLED LARGE FUNDS, HOW MUCH AND HOW SUCCESSFULLY?
Please reply via email with complete information as requested: A. NAME: B. STREET ADDRESS (NOT P.O BOX): C. CITY: D. STATE: E. ZIP CODE: F. COUNTRY: G. MOBILE NUMBER: H. AGE: I. SEX: J. OCCUPATION: K. E MAIL:

In at least one case, the sender's IP was in Lagos.

The way it works is, you get a large cashier's check. You keep your 10% commission and send the other 90% via Western Union as instructed. Then, when the cashier's check bounces a couple of days later, you are hosed, since money sent via Western Union is virtually untraceable and impossible to recover.