I have been here since day one, and I truly get that. Probably unnecessary to explain it.
The point is Melissa fooled just about everyone - through whatever clever choice of victims she made.
Which is why I questioned that opening part of the OP's statement.
Melissa did not walk into their homes and steal their wallets, their jewellery, their hifi equipment. She was not a common criminal, she was a white collar criminal.
She was smart, she went to great lengths to provide believable(?) statements to all of her clients, she promised the big returns that they wanted, and she kept that all under control for years. Until it inevitably finally fell apart.
The people who were astute enough escaped Melissa's fraudulent scheme, by either declining to enter or by getting out.
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