A 95-year-old woman who lost her life savings to a con artist got it all back, and then some, when hundreds of people attended a fundraiser hosted by her state’s former governor. Barbara Hinckley of Auburn, Maine, was tricked into sending at least $16,000 to a scammer claiming to work at Publishers Clearing House in November. The scammer said she had won $2.5 million and new Mercedes.

Hinckley went public about the scam in hopes that it would deter other people from falling prey to the same scheme. “Stealing from the elderly is not the Maine Way,” former Maine Gov. John Baldacci, who served from 2003 to 2011, told the Bangor Daily News. “Let’s turn something bad into something positive by showing the world our true Maine character.”