From your link:
Victims testified to the financial impact of the scams. One victim claimed that she lost her life savings after a man she met on a dating site told her to send $300,000 to Ian Freeman, while another took out three loans and sold her husband's truck to send money to the scammer in a similar scheme.
I will always be shocked how someone could come by $300,000 (through legitimate or illegitimate means) and simply pass that whole sum to someone else without understanding the enormous risk they take on themselves.