I have explained to her how dangerous it is for her to talk to people she doesn't know. I have given her printouts of stories where elderly people have been taken advantage of. But, she continues to do it. Her memory has gotten really bad, so I know she forgets. And, I also know she misses her friends and is hoping the call is from someone she knows. How do I protect her?
Maybe a cell phone with those important people in the contacts. Their names would be on the screen when they call. Different ringer sounds can be set for the people on close friends list, the rest of the callers could be set to something that doesn't sound like a phone, like a water drip, etc. Once the memory gets worse, nothing will work...
It's my granddaughter,, got to get it... It works for her. I think you have to enter the names for phone to recognize... Not sure. One Man called my mom when I was visiting.. I was so angry. I called him back and said: How Dare you ask a senior citiszen for her Social Security numbe.r Don't you have a mother? How would you feel? It still angers me there are people out there doing that stuff.
Get her used to saying that she is the babysitter, the parents will be home later. can I take a message? If they say anything but yes, just hang up the phone. No reason to be nice.
On my Samsung, I have it set to Do Not Disturb. By doing that I can tell set it for contacts only ring thru. I can also block a certain number.
I have caller ID on my landline phone. I only pick up those phone # and names I know.
I too drumed it into my Mom that when asked for money or info she was to say her daughter handled her finances. And she did this. My DHs Aunt lets them talk and then tells them she is not interested. I tell her just hang up.
Well now with the dementia she never even answers the phone. EXCEPT a couple of weeks ago. Someone called and asked her for her SS#. She couldn't remember it so she went and got it out of her purse and gave it to them. The caregiver arrived just as she repeated her SS# to the caller. Of course it was on caller ID and when you call it it is a number that is not in service. I spent an hour on the phone setting up Lifelock.
When I asked her why on earth she would give her SS# to a scam artist on the phone! She said well he asked for it. Ahhhh dementia.
I would have spent that hour freezing her credit and banking reports. It's free to do now and happens instantly. That's the best way to avoid the big consequences of identity theft. Everyone should freeze their reports regardless of age. There's no reason not to anymore. Before when it cost $10 a pop and took days to unfreeze, it was costly and a hassle. But now you can freeze/unfreeze for free and it happens instantly.
You can get credit monitoring for free. Some credit card companies offer it.
NoMoRobo.com is free for VOIP lines, but I think there's a monthly fee for cell phones. It isn't available on landlines as far as I know.
It’s not always from the same number as the number patients call, so it’s tricky.
Block numbers. I receive so many robo calls. Blocking does no good because another one pops up. It’s such a pain.
You can program them so that authorised numbers get through without being intercepted, I believe (I don't have one myself, my SIL has and I think I'm on her approved list!).
You can cut down on this by switching from real phone service to VOIP or cell. You can transfer the number if you want to keep it. Both VOIP and cell have much better filter options for filtering out scammers. That's why there is much less telemarketing calls on cell phones than hardlines. If you want, you can even setup a VOIP service to work exactly like a hardline. Your mom can even use the exact same phone. She'll never know it's VOIP.
If someone you don't know calls --
"My daughter handles all my money, you really have to call her, at xxx.xxx.xxxx. Thank you and have a great day"
🤣🤣