I don't have much sympathy for greedy people who are scammed. I do have sympathy for elderly people who are scammed. Mental acuity can diminish significantly wi

I don't have much sympathy for greedy people who are scammed. I do have sympathy for elderly people who are scammed. Mental acuity can diminish significantly with age. My Dad used to be a very sharp corporate lawyer. He's now over 80 and was very lucky not to lose $10,000 to a phone scam a while ago. They were in the process of switching ISPs and a scammer called saying they were from his ISP and needed to check his computer. They managed to talk him into installing remote access software and logging into his bank account. A huge red flag for us is not necessarily so for people who are old and technically challenged. Luckily the scam happenned on a weekend, my Dad was suspicious enough to call me and we managed to stop the $10k transfer just in time. Although my Dad's scam was a phone call, online advertisers can do a much better job of screening for scam ads at trivial cost to their operations compared to the effect on vulnerable individuals.