WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
Something to think about!!
When paging through the March issue of AARP Bulletin, I came across this article.
“DEATH NOTICE DOUBLE-CROSS”
Be careful with obituaries – scam artists are reading
When published in newspapers or on Web sites, they can spoon feed scammers the nuggets they need. Be aware that the devil is in the details. The article goes on to suggest that when writing a notice, give the deceased ‘s age, but leave out the birth date, middle name, home address, birth place and mother’s maiden name. Don’t even include the names of family survivors. This last advice will be hard to follow, but, otherwise, you put family members at risk of scams. It went on to say that an AARP West Virginia chapter discovered its magnitude by interviewing recent scam victims and finding a common thread: All reported having had a recent death in the family and all had published obituaries listing the names of the grandchildren.
WHY WE LIKE OBITS
Anyone who does genealogy research is happy when they find an obit that lists where the ancestor came from. This happens more when they are from another country, Germany, Denmark, France or any other foreign country, and it might mention a town, which is very helpful in finding records on that person. More often than not, it may just say Denmark, etc. It may give a year of immigration which does help. Older obits are not as likely to give information that a scammer can use.
We have had a few days that make us think that spring is on the way and then here come more snowflakes and cold. Don’t give up; it will come.
gbs