As a former real estate saleswoman, widow of a judge and mother of a prosecutor, Mary Ann Downs had far more financial and legal acumen than most aging fraud victims. Even so, con artists had little trouble scamming her out of $74,000. Why? How? Her story is a classic study in what makes fraud against elderly people, especially women, one of the biggest growth industries in America. Con men are bilking the elderly out of $40 billion a year, by one FBI estimate.
When her ordeal started, Downs was 77 and recently widowed and had just learned she had breast cancer....
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