If you worry about an older parent falling for a scam, the worry is well-founded — but the situation is very manageable with a few steps. Older adults are targeted relentlessly because they’re more likely to have savings, and the financial and emotional damage when it works can be severe.
The scams that target older adults most
- Tech-support scams — the fake virus pop-up and the “Microsoft” cold call.
- Government and bank imposters — threats about taxes, benefits or “suspicious activity.”
- Romance scams — long cons that drain savings over months.
- The “grandchild in trouble” call — now supercharged by AI voice cloning that can copy a relative’s voice from seconds of audio.
Practical steps that actually help
- Install real-time phishing protection on their devices so fake pages are blocked before they can do harm — the free browser protection takes a couple of minutes to set up.
- Turn on MFA for their email and bank, and consider passkeys where available.
- Agree a family “safe word” for emergencies, so a cloned-voice “grandchild” call can be verified instantly.
- Set the expectation that real organisations never demand gift cards, crypto, or remote access — and that it’s always fine to hang up and call back on an official number.
How to have the conversation
Lead with respect, not alarm. Frame it as “these scams are designed to fool anyone — let’s set up a safety net together,” not “you might get tricked.” Make yourself the no-judgment person they call before acting on any urgent message.
A quiet safety net on their devices
SafeToOpen blocks scam and phishing pages in real time, in the background — protection that doesn’t need them to be a security expert.
Protect your family →The takeaway
You can’t monitor every message your parents get — but you can put protection on their devices, agree a safe word, and be the calm voice they check with. Those three things stop the large majority of what targets them.