Former police officer turned private investigator Kylee Dennis has a warning for local families: scammers are targeting elderly people in the area — and not in the way you might imagine.

“They’re actually coming through Facebook groups,” says Dennis, the founder of Two Face Investigations based in Shellharbour but operating nationally. “Let’s say an older person has joined a knitting Facebook group or a book club. The scammers are infiltrating these groups and then using this shared interest to engage with them.”

From there, an insidious strategy unfolds.

“They look for people who are single or seem to be lonely, and they strike up a friendship,” says Dennis. The hallmark of a scammer? They encourage the conversation to…