How do I stop a sweetheart scam that is victimizing my mother (79)?

It sounds like you may be already added on her bank accounts. If so, I'd see if you can get spending limits placed on the account. I believe they have this for teenagers. If not, you can receive text notification when there are charged above your defined amount (example $30). How is she communicating with this man? You may be able to put some password protected parental program on your computer that will only allow her to access certain applications. It works like a content filter. And certainly open a police report but be aware, online fraud typically crosses police jurisdiction so you may need federal law enforcement to intervene.

Dear Spender,

I'm so sorry to hear what you have been going through. I know you only want to protect your mom from fraud. I know so many seniors that are so vulnerable to these types of scams.

If you have POA maybe you can put a freeze on her accounts. And I would also involve the police. And email or a phone call from the police might put an end to this guys financial exploitation of your mother.

Contact law enforcement. If this is truly a scam, they want to know about it. Otherwise, I'd call APS. This is a form of elder abuse and is taken very seriously. Freqflyer has some great suggestions, too!

Dr. Phil has had shows about this very thing, it is called "catfishing" where someone pretends to love someone via the computer, then asked for money, etc. See if you can find those shows on his website, and you and Mom watch them together. Whether that will sink in, it's hard to tell.

Mom might not understand if in the future she needs to sign up for Medicaid to help with any long term health condition, she could be turned down because she "gifted" all this money away :(

Do you have financial Power of Attorney for your Mom? Ask Mom if she would like for you to handle all her bill paying, etc. Then get a joint bank account where you can sign checks for her. That way, if Mom wants to send money to her "boyfriend" she would need to go through you... yes, there will be arguments.

Also, you can go on-line to the 3 credit bureaus and "freeze" your Mother's credit, that would help in case "boyfriend" has enough information he can do it himself.