I would agree with you, but she was only 72 years old! That isn't old by today's standards.  Except for those unfortunate individuals who are afflicted with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, the mind is usually the last thing to go.  Many great artists are creating brilliant works at 80.  As you probably know, Normal Mailer died last week at age 84.  He completed a novel last year.  A really silly show with Charlie Sheen called 2-1/2 Men has Robert Wagner (age 77) as an occasional guest.  He's still hot! (well, I think so)  Roger Moore (be still my heart!) who played James Bond until he was 58 is currently an Ambassador for UNICEF at 80 years old.  Former Pres Carter is 83 and visited Darfur last month to promote peace with Rev Desmond Tutu (he's only 76)   Henry Kissinger, born 1923, still advises our world leaders on international relationships.  Barbara Walters is 78.  At age 88 Mike Wallace decided it was time to retire from 60 Minutes.  (I agreed)  However, if 91 year old Walter Cronkite wants to come back to anchor the evening news again, I'll be watching.

Well, I think I've made my point that most people do not become feeble-minded as they get older, just those who stop using their minds in the first place.

Believe it or not, I have a really good friend that I work, and fish with that fell for a very similiar scam.

His wife was supposibly playing some internet lottery. (I'll get back to that one) they recieved (from Candada) a check in the mail for 5800 dollars, along with a letter stating that he had to pay 1800 dollars in processing fees. His first instinct was, its a scam. but his wife conviced him that it was probably from the website she had been visiting and that it was legitimate. He went to the bank and deposited the check. after three days, THE CHECK CLEARED. the money was deposited into his bank account.

home free....right?..not quite.

he withdrew the 1800 bucks, got a money order and sent the money to the given address in Canada!

He never said a word to me.

guess what happened next. 7 days later he goes to draw out 20 bucks so we could go fishing at his banks atm. his account had been frozen! he went inside the bank while I waited in the truck. he came out with the most horrid look upon his face. he told me the entire story.

The check for the Lottery was a Fraud. how it cleared the first time, I don't know. I do know this.

I told him, "you know I keep up with Lottery's. you should have come to me and ask for some advice!"

"you should have trusted your first instinct and not listened to your wife."

The only legal Lotteries in the US are the State/Multistate funded lotteries!

The Powerball and The Cash 5 are the only legal lotteries in NC right now.

all the others are operating illegally, or are a scam.

Personally, I would never play even an out of country lottery. There was an American that won the Spanish El Goro. when he went to the lottery office to collect, The Spanish bastards refused to pay him because he was not a Spanish Citizen!

No Legitimate Lottery will ever CONTACT YOU and INFORM you that you are a winner. they would rather see you not collect! it is your responsibility to identify yourself as a winner and claim your prize!

He should have gotten some advice,

They better never send me one of those scam Lottery winning Checks.

I WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE POLICE STATION TO SET UP A STING OPERATION!!!

Moral of the story.

never get involved in any buisiness deal that you know nothing about, without consulting an unbiosed outside expert.

unless you were a stock annalyist, CPA, finacial planner, with a buisiness degree, you wouldn't invest your retirement into a company without first checking it out would you?....if you had never even purchaced your first home, you wouldn't buy into real estate without an apprasial, or at least a realitor advice? would you?

I could have saved my friend alot of money, had he have seeked my advice. and even if I didn't know what to tell him, (which I did) I have had enough experience with Lotteries that I could have directed him down the right path. 

needless to say I had to spot him the gas money to go fishing that day. what are friends for?.

I only wish I could have saved him the heartache of loosing 1800 dollars!

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Possible remedies: 

A severe penalty for sending such a letter or e-mail. That is, the person who is told they "won" should immediately be able to sue for that amount, either the sender or the country of origin. At least make the penalties more severe than the penalty for illegally downloading music. If someone is targeted who is elderly or unable to understand the situation that should be even more severe! 

Mail servers should be able to detect incoming mail mentioning winning Lottery prizes and someone at the ISP can intervene and then take immediate action against the sender.