Consumers Warned to Be Wary of Grandparent Scam

It's a scam that's designed to play on grandparents' heart strings, and the latest version of it has prompted a national awareness campaign as well as consumer alerts from two state attorneys general.

It works like this: A con artist calls senior citizens, posing as a grandchild in need and asks for money to be sent through a wire service or via money order. The hardship stories they tell can be very convincing, as Nellie Harper of Charlestown, W.Va., found out last week.