Flickr user athrasher
If you've been following, you'll have read about two local "grandparent" scams where an elderly person is persuaded that a caller on the other end of the phone is their grandchild and needs money urgently.
These scammers are often able to be effective thanks to so much information being readily available online.
All it takes is a little bit of sleuthing and some cross links to genealogy websites, and a would-be scammer could have enough information to make a fairly compelling scam. And it seems that such scams have hit locally more than just a couple times.
The Island Packet's crime reporter Allison Stice details a wave of calls she's had after recent reports; take a read over here.
Now, hopefully, you won't go setting up three security questions with your grandparents (The name of my first dog was ______.) but, if you don't think your grandparents are aware, be sure to give them a call and tell them to always ask personal questions should you ever call "in desperate need of cash".)
