I think it&#x27;s a couple of things.<p>The first is the sunk cost falacity &#x2F; escalation of commitment ( <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Escalation_of_commitment" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Escalation_of_commitment</a> ) - if you&#x27;ve already given the scammers $500, your choices are either to admit that you&#x27;ve been scammed and will never see that money again. The alternative is to convince yourself that you really are going to get the money (and you haven&#x27;t been scammed) if you just send them a little bit more...<p>The second factor is that at a certain age most people begin to lose their judgement. You don&#x27;t have to have full on dementia, just slightly less good judgement than you had when you were younger, in order to fall for on of these scams.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;25&#x2F;your-money&#x2F;as-cognitivity-slips-financial-skills-are-often-the-first-to-go.html?_r=1" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;25&#x2F;your-money&#x2F;as-cognitivity-...</a> - &quot;As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go&quot;. Interestingly, financially savvy people who actively manage their money are at a much higher risk of losing everything to bad decisions at an older age.