1. .......... people often victimized by con artists because they are too trusting.

2. Nowadays, email .......... are prevalent. People should not trust all of the emails they receive because some are fraudulent and the senders are deliberately dishonest in order to dupe unsuspecting people.

3. A .......... scheme is an illegal, money-making investment plan where former investors are paid either in part or in full by latter investors who are convinced to join the scheme. In the end, latter investors lose out if they can't find new investors to scam.

4. Someone who talks a lot and tries to influence or convince others in a smooth but usually deceptive manner is often called a .......... talker.

5. .......... artists are people who deliberately try to trick others into believing them usually in order to get gullible people to give them money in a fraudulent scheme.

6. A .......... plan or arrangement involves sneaky or crafty measures that are implemented in order to fool others into believing falsehoods.

7. My friend was .......... by a fraudulent email last month that claimed she would earn thousands of dollars in days if she joined a money-making scheme. The email sender asked her for her credit card number and then took her number and used it to purchase expensive items under her name.

8. People who are victimized by money-making scams are often quite .......... because they were fooled into willingly giving away their hard-earned money. They are ashamed because they were too trusting and someone knowingly took advantage of them.

9. Luke is a ..........! He convinced me to give him $2000 last month because he said he would invest it for me and that I would earn a high-rate of return on it. But, I haven't heard from him in over three weeks and his ex- girlfriend told me that he left town for good about a month ago. No one has heard from him since and I doubt I'll ever see him again.

10. I was deceived by a dishonest travel company last year. They called me and told me about a luxurious vacation discount package to the Bahamas. It sounded great so I sent them a .......... to reserve a seat but it turns out that there is no vacation package and they kept the partial payment I sent.