Scammers may pose as relatives or friends, calling or sending messages to urge you to wire money immediately. They’ll say they need cash to help with an emergency – like getting out of jail, paying a hospital bill or needing to leave a foreign country. Their goal is to trick you into sending money before you realize it’s a scam.
They impersonate your loved one convincingly.
Social networking sites make it easier than ever to sleuth out personal and family information. Scammers also could hack into the e-mail account of someone you know.