I found a recent Maine Sunday Telegram op-ed very interesting (“What can we do to address the loneliness epidemic in Maine?” Feb. 9).

As a local sheriff, I speak to many senior groups, and I am on the advisory board of the Southern Maine Area on Aging, so I have a fair amount of contact with our senior population.

During my presentations, I mention how lucky we are to be in Southern Maine, where senior groups are able to assemble for coffee and fellowship. In more rural counties, distance and available programs may be scarce.

Why do I mention this? My presentations pertain to scamming and ways to prevent or recognize a scam. Even though “everybody” knows about the proliferation of scams, we still learn of seniors getting victimized. The one common component that we see is loneliness.

Last November, an older man (widower) was selling property to give to a woman he met on a dating site. His family was distraught and could not reason with the man. He had already sent the mystery woman $50,000 to assist her in settling her parents’ estate and she wanted to relocate from a foreign country to Maine to be with him.

Looking at the pictures (all head shots) he kept on his telephone of his would-be paramour, it was clear to me that the pictures were modeling shots that were probably plucked from the internet. The pictures never had any background or other people in the pictures. The man, who was educated and held prestigious positions, was sending her pictures in return.

Meetings and discussions could not convince him that he was being victimized, and he concluded that we (his family and I) were trying to stand between him and his true love. The loneliness this man experienced in the dozen or so years his wife had passed had taken a toll. Even the FBI sent him a letter explaining that by sending money to a foreign address it could be inadvertently going into the wrong hands. It simply did not matter.

This story has been repeated hundreds of times in Maine. Vulnerable lonely people depend upon that faceless voice on the other end of the telephone and are willing to suspend all good judgment by sending money for that continued  attention. Even when they realize the lottery prize is not coming or is fake, many miss the regular contact from the scammer.

Many years ago, American companies, in an effort to cut overhead, moved their call centers to developing countries where labor costs were much cheaper. Many foreign nationals learned the skills of telemarketers. Scammers don’t sound like telemarketers, make a quick introduction and readily identify what challenges the call recipient has. They gather information rapidly and scammers have a plan, often using the names of children that the victim had given them early on in a conversation. Scammers are able to overcome objections and offer solutions (lottery winnings). In short, they have used this learned skill for evil.

Having a slew of trained telemarketers in a country that is part of the North American Numbering Plan allows somebody, for example, from Jamaica to spoof a local number and call somebody in the United States. Even though the call is emanating from Jamaica, it appears to be coming from somewhere else. The North American Numbering Plan includes the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda and 17 nations of the Caribbean.

Consequently, most, if not all our scams, emanate from a foreign country with a scammer that has acquired essential telemarketing strategies from us!

Ms. Maslen envisions creating an infrastructure to nurture meaningful relationships. If this is to occur, I am convinced that scammers would lose many potential victims; supported, connected people will be less willing to talk with scammers. Creating a welcoming space could offer a person an opportunity to discuss these telephone calls with another adult and, hopefully, not be embarrassed by it.