You won a lottery you say?

[Gurndigarn]

OK lets be real here:

OP: "sir this is a scam. do not get involved with it."
SC: "but no, it's real. why would they lie to me?"
OP: "because they just want your your money."
SC: "no, i'm sure it's real, otherwise they would not have my address...."

And so on and so on. People will believe whatever the hell they want to..

It usually works better to say "You know this is a scam, right?" It gives the message without you sounding like you're trying to run their life. And if they keep going, then it's their fault. You've done what you can.

[ds_36]

My sup and I were laughing at the fact the guy fell for the scam, not at the fact I didn't tell him anything.

I know, that's why I think it's so mean. You also said he seemed slow on the uptake, maybe he really does have a mental problem and that's why he fell for it. Or maybe he's just not as worldly as you and has never heard of this scam before.
Sometime good people just let their guard down at the wrong time, and something bad ends up happening to them. This doesn't mean that they deserved it - especially not to possibly lose to significant amount of money or health.

[Barefootgirl]

Lets jsut bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, thats what's done is done. We cannot now change what the OP said to the mark, so constantly berating him for not cutting the guy some slack isn't overly helpful.

To be fair, some people really are mentally challenged and are deeply sweet, tusting people but are also prime targets for every scammer and con artist out there. Older people whose faculties are failing are also favoured targets for these scammers. Perhaps next time the OP gets a similar from a customer, he'll find a bit of common decency and at least warn them that these things are scams. Whether they take his advice or not, at least he'll have done the decent thing.