A 68-year-old Vermont widow who nearly gave $60,000 to a scammer is warning other potential victims to ditch them.
Louise Brown turned to the Internet to find someone to talk to after the death of her husband. When the man she had been bonding with began begging her for money, she gave him $60,000 before her bank flagged her account and warned her of the con.
AARP officials say Vermont has seen an "explosion" in the number of Internet scams.
Greg Marchildon, the director of AARP in the state, says criminals build trust with their victims and try to get them into a heightened state of feeling.
The Vermont attorney general's office is pushing for legislation requiring online dating websites to notify users when they've communicated with known scammers.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.