IT IS an old expression that a fool and his money are soon parted, and perhaps it is easy to feel some smug disdain for those who have fallen prey to a scam.
In yesterday's paper, we outlined the latest one: a cash prize of $175,000 for coming second place in a travel promotion.
If you operate on the basis that nothing in life comes for free, then you're usually pretty immune to obvious scams like these. But millions are lost every year through these scams, and sometimes it's not just money, but your heart that's being played as well.
Scams work because while they might be sophisticated in organisation and planning, they play to your most base desires. Basic greed, or at least a basic desire to have more money, or a desire to be flattered, loved, cared for and loved back.
The romance scams are heartbreaking because they appear to provide this flattering concept that someone out there thinks you're wonderful.