Sad Story: A Friend Was Scammed

I know that you cannot help those who will not let you. I know that opinions are free and everyone carries their own boatload of them. But if I were looking for legal advice, I would ask a lawyer. Or a doctor is who I would visit for medical advice.
But just because I have been devoting all of my time into researching fraud and finding solutions for all of us, I guess stands for nothing. It gives me no credibility in the eyes of my friend Dorothy.

It upsets me every day to know what is happening, and I cannot do anything but watch in horror. I believe that the scammers found her by getting her information through other scammers, because like I have said before, people that have been scammed in the past are easy targets. (Which makes NO sense to me, I tend to learn my lesson on the first mistake). And yes, Dorothy has been scammed before. She is a sweet little old lady with a small bank account and a big heart.

The scammers have convinced her that her late husband has millions of dollars in oil stock in their country. Want to take a wild guess of what country?
Yep! Nigeria, the scam capital of the world. So, believing that she has millions coming her way, she has been sending money to who she believes is the "Prime Minister of Nigeria". I do not know exactly how much, because she will not tell me, and gets real secretive if I ask. And no matter what I say, no matter what type of proof I try to cram in her face, she will not have it, and just shuts me out. I have tried everything. I force my sister and mutual friends to call her and pound reality into her head, to no avail.

It is like knowing that a train wreck is about to happen, and all you can do is sit back helplessly and watch. All I can do is inform others of fraud schemes, I cannot stop them from getting involved. And that sucks, especially when it is someone close to me. Deep down I believe that we all know when something is wrong. It is called our gut. And that is why Dorothy gets real secretive and does not want to talk about it. If there was complete belief in her heart that this was 100% legitimate, she would stand up for her decisions and tell me to shut up, instead of trying to hide. She does not want to believe that it is not true, even if it is not.

Do not let hope and greed cloud your mind from reality. Of course, we all want more money. We all want financial freedom. I am yet to meet a person that tells me they wish they had less money. To make more money, it takes a little trait called work ethic. Did you know that 4 out of 5 millionaires have a college degree, and most work more than 45 hours per week?

Yet millions of Americans hold on to the hope of 'falling' into money, like winning the lottery for example. Instead of investing money to make more money or to save it for retirement, it is spent on a lottery ticket. Even though the chances of winning the lottery is 1 in 20 million.

Just to give you an example: According to the Colorado Lottery’s 2006 Annual Report, per capita the spending on lottery tickets was $95. That means every man, woman, and child in the state of Colorado spent $95 on lottery tickets last year.
The fact is, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning SEVEN times in a single year than to win the jackpot! So my advice is, just stop it! Stop holding on to some stupid unattainable notion that you will strike it rich. Stop letting the con artists steal your money. Stop fabricating these lies to yourself that you will come across a quick way to make a lot of money. And do what the rest of us do to make the best living you can for yourself and your family: Work your tail off until it pays off.