In 2010, when my dad was 90, he lost $4,000.00 to a combination lottery/bad-check scam. I looked at his bank account online almost daily, but when I asked him why he had withdrawn that large amount, he wouldn’t tell me. He said something like, “I can’t tell you now, but you’ll be so happy in a few days.” Then I saw that he’d deposited a check supposedly drawn on an Idaho Falls, Wells Fargo bank for $4,000. After a 3-day bank holiday weekend, it “bounced.”