However, these scammers have had serious consequences for seniors and even younger adults. I know a woman, age 79, who was a customer of mine at work. She doesn't own a computer, but received a phone call 2 years ago from someone in Jamaica telling her that she had won a lottery. She's an intelligent woman, but was drawn into their scam, thinking that this would help her son and his family. She ended up losing $100,000 which was most of her savings. After talking to these people, different ones, she mentioned that she was a Christian. They told her that they were also good Christians who could safely invest her lottery money for her. Before she knew it, she had sent thousands of $$$, always via Western Union, to cover fees and expenses. She tried to explain it to me, as she was a regular customer, but she was confused as to how this had happened. She had given them her account numbers where the took money out of them. How could this have happened without her banks questioning these withdrawls? Every time she tried calling them, which cost her $3,000 for calling to Jamaica, she was told that the money was on its way. They told her lies such as someone was coming with the money, but was held up and robbed at a gas station near her home. She eventually contacted the authorities, but it was too late. 

It's such a sad way to spend your final years only living off SS, but knowing that you have been taken. I haven't seen her in a year, but the stress of trying to deal with this, at her age, must have been devastating.