RIP-OFF ALERT: Elderly women who live alone are cautioned to be wary of "woodchucks" -- fake home contractors who gain their confidence and then charge huge amounts of money for unnecessary work.

These con men usually have some level of handyman skills and will start the relationship by offering to do a benign job such as gutter cleaning. But after they finish that job, they'll find other imaginary problems -- such as a roof or chimney repair -- and convince seniors to fork over thousands of dollars.

Woodchucks also love to target people who have failing memories. In some of their most disgusting offenses, they'll even drive old women to banks and get them to cash bogus checks before disappearing with the funds.

Police expect the woodchuck phenomenon to worsen. After all, we're an aging population and we no longer live geographically close to our families as we did a few generations ago.

So Clark's challenge for you is to pick up the phone and call your aging relatives -- or go visit them -- to make sure they're not falling prey to woodchucks.

Be nosy if you're worried that their money may be in danger. With a parent, there'll be a natural inclination for them to not want to talk to you about money. But you've got to be pushy.

You don't want to find out that a beloved elder is impoverished at the end of their life because they were charmed, confused and basically robbed.