My folks have a friend who is continually falling for scams, and she was telling me just the other day about some fake coats that he bought in a parking lot. The details sounded nearly identical to Gundo's description.
Although I'm not going to defend the scammers - they're dirt bags, no question. But some people are just gullible and are easy prey. My parents' friend, for example, has fallen for every scam in the book. He has sent money overseas, invested in things that promised a ridiculous return, bought "valuable" products that ended up being worthless, etc. And each time he has lost money, sometimes substantially. Yet he continues to fall for these things and is convinced that a massive return is just around the corner. The fact that he is up to the eyeballs in debt at retirement age seems to be accelerating it.
These scams exist because some people will fall for anything. Repeatedly. An in-law even fell for the "we can give you a lower interest rate!" telemarketing scam and lost a good chunk of money. Really people?
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