I think this is terrible. I don't understand why someone would ever do this. Scamming anyone out of money is wrong, but scamming seniors out of money pretending to be a grandson is even worse. Although it is a terrible crime these people were fairly smart about it. They made themselves sound like they were actually in trouble and they did a good job of tricking the seniors. Using an off shore bank account was also smart because then it is harder to track by the American police. Although they did a good job, you can never do a good enough job, because if you are going to commit a crime your going to get caught.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/943843--seniors-targeted-in-grandson-scam?bn=1