AARP Bulletin had an interesting story (November, 2020 page 32) profiling a serial elder abuse con man. It profiled a man named Steven Thomas who for over 20 years has designed programs aimed at bulking seniors out of their hard earned pay, generating about $20,000 a month doing so. He is now in prison, but has been cooperating with authorities regarding over 200 elicit sweepstakes scams. His mailers for one client persuaded 400K victims to mail in over $50 million over a five year period. He extensively used images of stock certificates as a hook to his scheme so that people would feel they were getting something of value. He also used fonts similar to what banks use, and featured embossings and ornate borders, which many people fell for!
