Just about everyone with an email address receives daily spam telling us we’ve inherited money, won BIG on the lottery, asking us to help dying Lady Rochester distribute her funds or the nephew of Saddam Hussein sneak millions of dollars out of Iraq. All we have to do is send a small amount of money and the millions will be ours.

Most of us are wise to this rubbish and see these offers for the scams they are. But what happens to the more vulnerable people among us, who’s hopes lead them to believe what they read? I’ve often heard it said, you can’t cheat an honest man or woman. I have to admit, I’ve always thought that was rubbish. Read this story and make your own mind up…

Not so long ago, I was visiting my Mum. She has a friend from a poor South American country who was visiting and was obviously distressed. I have met her before but hadn’t seen her for some years. She married and divorced an Englishman, leaving her far from her family with children to bring up alone.

As I listened to her, I could see her hold on reality was tentative, at best. She asked me about my business and what I did. She already knew that I have a therapeutic background and that I coach people. She asked if she could spend some time with me. She told me she would pay me as she was taking me from my visit with my Mum. I wasn’t concerned about payment, much more about her mental health.

She explained that she couldn’t pay straight away but she would soon be able to. In a conspiratorial whisper, she told me she would soon be very wealthy as she had won a huge sum of money in a lottery. I spent some time listening to her other problems and assessing her state and ability to process information. As she emptied out, she calmed all the way down and went back to the smart, gentle woman I had met before. Then I got her to tell me about the lottery win and I had to break it to her - this kindly lady had been tricked.

She told me about the email about her lottery win, asking her to send money so that the funds could be released to her. She had sent £1,200. Then they asked for another £400 to deliver the cheque by courier. She showed me the email. It was sent from a yahoo address, but with the name of a senior executive in an international bank. It was a good facsimile email, but the English was inaccurate. It is easy to get these mistakes past a desperate person, trying to get by in a second or even third language.

I explained the mistakes to her, and how to spot another one. I got er to phone the people while I was there. There was no chance of getting her money back, but we did report the crime. I told her these important points;

• You can only win the lottery if you have a ticket.
• The only money you ever have to part with in a lottery, is the price of your ticket.
• The ticket is always bought before the lottery.
• Just because you are a kind and honourable person it doesn’t mean you won’t get taken advantage of.

I spent a couple of hours with her. She was so much better at the end, I felt great. She insisted on paying me. I told her to pay me exactly what it had been worth to her, bearing in mind the situation she was in. She told me she would give the money to my Mum soon. I didn’t expect any money and I had told her it wasn’t important.

A few weeks later my Mum rang me to say she had something for me. When I went over to see her, she gave me an envelope from her friend. There was a message with £60 ($120).

“I made this money and I’d like you to have it. What you did was worth much more, but this is all I can afford.” That enormous gift brought tears to my eyes and - yes, you can cheat an honest woman.