This week on The Perfect Scam.

I have never heard anybody so loud and angry and calling me all kinds of names.

He said, where are you right now?

And he said, I know where you are. You're sitting in front of a bank.

And he said, you are so stupid. We have been doing this so long and you

were so close to having all of your money. Now the Federal Reserve is done with you. You have

lost everything. Welcome back to the perfect scam. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.

Well, that sounded pretty awful, right? I bet if we let that noise play out just a little longer,

you'd do just about anything to stop it. And that's how many tax support scams start by blaring an insufferable sound,

fraying your nerves, and then taking advantage of the vulnerability that follows.

But today's guest had so many other factors which laid the groundwork for her vulnerability

that it really seems unfair.

A retired teacher who still works with special needs kids,

recently divorced after a long marriage, facing a cancer scare,

and often at her 96-year-old mom's house taking care of her.

Ultimately, criminals took advantage of all these factors and stole $1 million from Joyce.

What does stop, drop, and roll have to do with any of this? Well, stories like these are a big

part of the reason that AARP has invested a lot of time, research, and funding into a new campaign designed to help

people fight against scams like these. The good guys need something as loud as that screeching

noise which begins those tax support scams, and AARP has settled on a concept called

pause, reflect, and protect. We'll get to that in a moment.

But now I want to take you back to that terrible morning

...