Elderly beware: scams on the rise

A phone scammer made a mistake when he called my mother.

The young male caller pretended to be her grandson. He said he'd been arrested for fishing on an Indian reservation - unaware he was breaking the law - and needed bail money so a judge wouldn't throw him in jail.

My mother's response, which I'll share in a moment, is now a classic part of family lore - but the threat that increasingly sophis...