Pet - the clever thing about that scam is that it isn't a huge amount of money, and not a round sum so seems more 'believable'....scary.
(As an aside, when my SIL's mum developed dementia, she became obsessed by all the post that arrived saying that she'd won a prize in a lottery, and that sort of thing - she religiously saved every letter, and kept trying to get my SIL to reply and 'claim' the prize, etc etc. She got so distressed about it, it was dreadful.)
(As for my friend's father, he was scammed really badly by 'boiler room' thieves, and 'invested' a good few thousand in a totally bogus scheme. My friend said he kept saying to her 'But they must be a real company - they sent me a very glossy brochure'....awful.)
