Our babies took 11 and 18 months, respectively, to arrive. By dealing with a local agency, we could drive over to sign papers or pick up the first picture of the baby. Even then, our agency warned us that the Indian contacts may have withheld important medical information. The total cost for both was much less than your news story mentioned. Having had a trustworthy agency to deal with where everyone at the agency or on the board were adoptive parents themselves, paying a bag of money to a virtual stranger is sheer stupidity.
Con artists can always find a sucker, since adoption is such an emotionally charged process.
Tell people to deal only with licensed agencies. It's much safer. The stock of blue-eyed blondes is a myth left over from the 1930's when children were abandoned because of the Depression and abortion was not legal. There were warning signs all over the place. There have been many people who said this was a situation just waiting to blow up.