Juniors and seniors in Ms. Wright's critical issues in health classes at Monroe-Woodbury High School got a special lesson from Assistant Attorney General Gary Brown and Assemblyman James Skoufis about phone and internet scams and, specifically, grandparent scams.

They're a type of scam that occurs when someone contacts an elderly person pretending to be their grandchild or other relative in order to get money.

"The likelihood is that the grandparents of the children in the room right now are going to get this call, or if they haven't gotten it that they will because these calls are made by the millions," Brown said.

They hope to give the students the tools they need to help teach family members about the scams and others that target them or other vulnerable communities like the elderly.

"It's estimated that about 1 in 50 times that this call is made, it works," said Brown, "which is not a high batting average, but when you multiply that by millions of calls, it translates into millions of victims and millions of dollars."

Students watched videos and participated in a role-play session to teach them what to look for with the scams. They had one big message for teens and their grandparents alike: "The phone is not your friend and you need to be very mindful of that," Brown said. "So when you get a call from a number you don't recognize, don't answer it. And there are some scams that target younger adults as well as older ones." 

Skoufis (D-Woodbury) hopes that the personal touch will help get the message out this holiday season.

"Trying to reach that grandparent is much more difficult if it's not coming from a family member, and they'll listen to their grandkid a lot more than they'll listen to some stranger or a politician," he said.