Protecting elderly parents from scam callers

[TheVTCGuy]

My mother is still very sharp, but ALMOST (Thank GOD it was stopped by the credit card company) was scammed for $3,000. Yep, it was a call center from India, what a shock. I believe there is a special place in Hell for people that pray on innocent elderly, there will NEVER be a justification for what they do. I don’t want to hear they are poor and there are no other jobs in India blah blah blah. I don’t care if you believe in any particular GOD but I believe in Karma; when you do bad things, bad things happen to you (and your family). Anyway… now that I am finished with my rant, I searched for months for a solution to protect my mother; I found it and for the last year am so relieved this product is doing exactly that. NOTE: This is for her home-phone, she does not own a cell phone.

Full disclosure, I have no connection whatsoever to this company, I’m simply a customer. It is called Tele-Calm, based in Texas. It’s a small company, I am happy to say offers typical small company customer service, very good and personable.

They take over your phone service, the price is very reasonable, about $50/month, and protect un-known numbers. When I signed up for my mother, I put every single number in her phone book in to the program. Those are the ONLY numbers that ring in her telephone.

If the calling number is one of the “allowed” list, my mother’s phone rings as normal and she can answer, or it goes to her answering machine.

If the calling number is NOT one in her allowed list, my mother’s phone does NOT ring, but the caller is allowed to leave a message (which shows up on the phone APP and I can listen to it).

If the caller is a known scam number, my mother’s phone does not ring and they hear a message saying the number has been disconnected.

I can not tell you the relief of stress this has brought myself and my mother. Her phone used to ring 20 to 30 times a day, almost all were scam tele-marketing. Now, if her phone rings, she KNOWS it is someone she wants to talk to. A record day, the app showed it had stopped over EIGHTY (80!) calls in one day!!!!

If you have a need to protect elderly parents, or other family members, or just want to stop getting scam calls yourself this is a phenomenal product, I highly-highly recommend it.

[shaunylw]

Sounds like an awesome service. My parents are a bit younger but still scammed. My dad called frantic telling me he had to send $500 to the IRS immediately. I ask how did they take payment, he said gift cards . I didn’t even have to say anything, he knew. The older generations tend to believe in people.

Glad you were able to find a reasonable solution!


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[BNA/LION]

That's great Paul!

[sybaris]

Had to do that with my elderly in-laws. They got taken for 4k in WalMart cards by someone posing as a lawer representing their grandson who "was in a car crash". They even spoke to their "grandson" who was actually the scammer holding his nose pretending that it got broken in the wreck. My FIL also would fall for those Jamaican computer technicians who could fix your PC over the phone.

[FTX I]

Very nice Paul. I've read a great article about that 3 days ago on The Washington Post (link). Big problem where I live as well. I have a 'do not disturb' feature that mutes all calls except the numbers I have saved. I asked my mother to do the same.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...fraud-fatigue/

[huncho]

Originally Posted by FTX I

Very nice Paul. I've read a great article about that 3 days ago on The Washington Post (link). Big problem where I live as well. I have a 'do not disturb' feature that mutes all calls except the numbers I have saved. I asked my mother to do the same.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...fraud-fatigue/

iphones have a setting that does the same without even needing to use do not disturb. just sends all calls not from your contact list straight to voicemail and then since ios has visual voicemail all you have to do is glance at the transcribed text instead of listening to them

[Mifune]

My mom was taken for several thousand dollars a couple years ago... she was so disappointed in her self and she had to change ER EVERYTHING in her name from a financial and privacy standpoint.

These predatory confidence tricksters are the worst.

The key is educating them.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by huncho

iphones have a setting that does the same without even needing to use do not disturb. just sends all calls not from your contact list straight to voicemail and then since ios has visual voicemail all you have to do is glance at the transcribed text instead of listening to them

Very nice. Mine is Samsung so the do not disturb is my best option. It's a shame we live in a world where companies and scammers bother us the whole day even on our phones but what can we do. It is what it is right

[espanol]

Thanks for this Paul. My mother has dementia, and being out of state, I constantly worry when I’m not with her. It’s hard. I’ll definitely be signing her up for this.

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by FTX I

Very nice. Mine is Samsung so the do not disturb is my best option. It's a shame we live in a world where companies and scammers bother us the whole day even on our phones but what can we do. It is what it is right

I'm not sure, but I think the first scam call ever was to Alexander Graham Bell, himself.

Bell: "Ahoy-oy!"

Scammer: "Sir, are you aware that your buggy warranty is about to expire? We have some...."

Bell: Click.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

I'm not sure, but I think the first scam call ever was to Alexander Graham Bell, himself.

Bell: "Ahoy-oy!"

Scammer: "Sir, are you aware that your buggy warranty is about to expire? We have some...."

Bell: Click.

hahaha

[seylen]

What a pity I didn't find information about it earlier. My mother is very gullible and it's easy for crooks to fool her head. The landline at home had to be turned off completely. For my mom's cell phone I installed an app that detects the danger of incoming calls and a warning appears on the screen that it is a suspicious number. But she still sometimes answers scammers, I do not know how to deal with it

[INC]

Originally Posted by huncho

iphones have a setting that does the same without even needing to use do not disturb. just sends all calls not from your contact list straight to voicemail and then since ios has visual voicemail all you have to do is glance at the transcribed text instead of listening to them

Exactly, and this feature is so easy to activate

One more thought: The elderly persons don't really need the voicemail, so if you turn it off as well, then these two steps could result in an almost perfect solution.

[AzPaul]

Good info, Paul. Nice share