The following URL leads to a dreadful story about a woman who was scammed out of her life savings of $700,000. Please view it now and be sure to watch the news video:
This scam victim had been repeatedly warned that she was falling prey but she chose to ignore the warnings. It appears that she was fearful of any reliable sources of information, choosing instead to believe in the bad guy(s).
To me, this behavior shows an unreasoning fear of official channels of “The Government” meaning The Internal Revenue Service and The Social Security Administration and the Federal Trade Commission and the Police, fear of “The Banks” meaning her bank teller and fear of “The Corporations” meaning just about any legitimate business one will encounter during the course of a normal day.
Instead of realizing that the stranger who contacted her while posing as a government agent was playing on such fears, she saw that stranger as some kind of redeeming savior who would rescue her from possible imprisonment.
She has been left destitute with, as her son put it, “Not a cent left.”
Following the loss of her savings, I cannot imagine how she will support her household in terms of paying income taxes, real estate taxes, utility bills, grocery bills, medical bills, clothing expenses and even transportation expenses.
Just looking at her, I would guess her age to be seventy or eighty (essentially my own age) and able to converse intelligently in a perfectly normal fashion. She is not someone in whom I would immediately suspect judgmental deficiency but her judgment in the described situation was disastrous.
I once read of a scam victim case where a bank teller spotted a scam victim making a very large withdrawal and who tried to warn that depositor about what was happening. The depositor immediately flew into a furious rage right then and there at the teller’s window and could not be dissuaded from going forward. Such mindsets are fresh meat for the bad guys.
It is to be hoped that YOU WHO ARE READING THIS will not be of such persuasion and that if you happen to encounter someone who is falling prey in this manner, that YOU WILL DO ALL THAT YOU CAN to protect that would-be victim, maybe even using a copy of this essay.