Why are the elderly so gullible?

[BoldonLad]

So, many of us are members of the tribe who have elderly parents.

Could we compile a Ten Commandments, which I can print, laminate and send my Mum to hang by her phone?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF COMPUTERS AND TELEPHONES.

1 - Do not engage with unsolicited callers, whether by phone or at the door. Tell them to write.

2 - Do not contact tradesmen without first discussing the problem with X (son) or Y (son in law or daughter living nearby).

3 - Do not be afraid to put the phone down.

4 - Do not click on blue links in emails unless it's something you are expecting.

5 - Refuse ALL requests for payments of any kind until you have discussed with X or Y.


Please feel free to comment, edit, add or delete.

May not be relevant to your mother, but, I would add:

6 - If you have not entered a competition / prize draw / lottery, you cannot have won a prize.

 

[raleighnut]

I worked in two and had a great time in both. Having come from a properly high stress job, where I'd had a nervous breakdown, due to the stress, I found Call Centre work a breeze, never once in 10 years did I go home and worry about the job.

Couldn't stand it myself, most of my work has been in making things. I need to go home with a sense of achievement

 

[Profpointy]

May not be relevant to your mother, but, I would add:

6 - If you have not entered a competition / prize draw / lottery, you cannot have won a prize.

Struggling to explain that to my dad. He knows it really, but try as I might I just can't get him to bin them

 

[swee'pea99]

So, many of us are members of the tribe who have elderly parents.

Could we compile a Ten Commandments, which I can print, laminate and send my Mum to hang by her phone?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF COMPUTERS AND TELEPHONES.

1 - Do not engage with unsolicited callers, whether by phone or at the door. Tell them to write.

2 - Do not contact tradesmen without first discussing the problem with X (son) or Y (son in law or daughter living nearby).

3 - Do not be afraid to put the phone down.

4 - Do not click on blue links in emails unless it's something you are expecting.

5 - Refuse ALL requests for payments of any kind until you have discussed with X or Y.


Please feel free to comment, edit, add or delete.

It's a good idea, but I suspect that for many elderly people 10 is just way too many. As earlier, I would suggest one, to be hung by the phone & stuck on the monitor:

If in doubt, call me.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

A couple of points (from an old age pensioner), they may not be relevant, but, will do no harm:

- Have you registered your mother's telephone number with TPS (telephone preference service)? It is not perfect, but, does cut down the number of nuisance calls. (a similar service exists for junk mail, called, predictably, MPS).
- Have you considered speaking to her telephone service provider to have her number changed, if they (the scammers) don't have her number, they cannot ring her. Sadly, I believe there is a "market" in telephone numbers of vulnerable people, so, her number may well being passed on.

From personal experience, with my late mother, I think a factor is, that generation were much less likely to challenge "authority", and, much less likely to be blunt and/or rude. Not problems I personally have (at present).

Sorry part of my role is trying to defeat fraud, what you say above is okay but realistically won't do anything with the scammers, they don't care about TPS, they are mainly offshore so even if they did TPS have no control over them anyway. As to changing the number, that isn't going to help really as there are 2 methods of calling, first is literally look at a phone area & call every possible number there is available, this tends to be the Microsoft scam type. The other is more slightly more sophisticated which tends to be a text coming from your bank, this must have an element of 'inside' job, so if you change your number they will get updated.

I had a number reported yesterday, I rang the number to be greeted with a very professional IVR with a very nice accented lady saying Welcome to [Bank] fraud department, please enter your 8 digit account number, I entered an 8 digit number, she then asked for my 2nd & 4th pin number, to which was responded I'm sorry we didn't get that please enter your 1st & 3rd pin numbers. Then I'm sorry there appears to be a problem, I'll put you through to one of our Fraud prevention officers. I didn't bother & put the phone down.

I was also talking to a bank representative yesterday as well about an hour before that episode & he advised a few weekends they had had 24 events such as above which resulted in over £2million being removed from their customers accounts.

If you can obtain the numbers that have called, their CallerID, report them to ICO, Ofcom Action Fraud, your telephone provider & if you want you can also go to http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/numbering/index.htm to find out who owns the number & report it directly to them. Although be aware that just because the CallerID is xxxxxxxxx it may not mean that is where the call has come from.

If you ever get a text, email from your bank NEVER use the number that is on the correspondence, ALWAYS either use the one on the back of your card, or go to the website & find one there.

 

[swee'pea99]

If you ever get a text, email from your bank NEVER use the number that is on the correspondence, ALWAYS either use the one on the back of your card, or go to the website & find one there.

And, crucially, as stated earlier, wait five minutes before you do, and/or use a different phone/line -

I put the phone down, googled the number and rang them. I am half way through the call to my bank (which i made) and something doesn't feel right. The woman appears to be getting annoyed with me when i am asking questions. I put the phone down, go over what she has said - and what details i have given her - and ring my bank again.
The way it works is that they don't put the phone down between them calling you and you ringing your bank but play a recording of a dialing tone instead.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

And, crucially, as stated earlier, wait five minutes before you do, and/or use a different phone/line -

Does that still happen? there was a consultation some time ago which made the recommendation that calls must hang up after 16 seconds (I think) if it was PSTN I thought it had been adopted, but I maybe wrong

 

[palinurus]

Struggling to explain that to my dad. He knows it really, but try as I might I just can't get him to bin them

I gave up trying, got POA and just redirected all my mother's mail to me.

 

[DaveReading]

May not be relevant to your mother, but, I would add:

6 - If you have not entered a competition / prize draw / lottery, you cannot have won a prize.

And/or, more generally, if it sounds too good to be true ...

 

[BoldonLad]

Sorry part of my role is trying to defeat fraud, what you say above is okay but realistically won't do anything with the scammers, they don't care about TPS, they are mainly offshore so even if they did TPS have no control over them anyway. As to changing the number, that isn't going to help really as there are 2 methods of calling, first is literally look at a phone area & call every possible number there is available, this tends to be the Microsoft scam type. The other is more slightly more sophisticated which tends to be a text coming from your bank, this must have an element of 'inside' job, so if you change your number they will get updated.

I had a number reported yesterday, I rang the number to be greeted with a very professional IVR with a very nice accented lady saying Welcome to [Bank] fraud department, please enter your 8 digit account number, I entered an 8 digit number, she then asked for my 2nd & 4th pin number, to which was responded I'm sorry we didn't get that please enter your 1st & 3rd pin numbers. Then I'm sorry there appears to be a problem, I'll put you through to one of our Fraud prevention officers. I didn't bother & put the phone down.

I was also talking to a bank representative yesterday as well about an hour before that episode & he advised a few weekends they had had 24 events such as above which resulted in over £2million being removed from their customers accounts.

If you can obtain the numbers that have called, their CallerID, report them to ICO, Ofcom Action Fraud, your telephone provider & if you want you can also go to http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/numbering/index.htm to find out who owns the number & report it directly to them. Although be aware that just because the CallerID is xxxxxxxxx it may not mean that is where the call has come from.

If you ever get a text, email from your bank NEVER use the number that is on the correspondence, ALWAYS either use the one on the back of your card, or go to the website & find one there.

Agreed.

Some useful additional information too, that is good.

I did not say it would SOLVE the problem, I say it may HELP. There are more to nuisance calls than scammers, there are also sales calls (Double Glazing, Drive and Patio etc etc etc). Like many things in life, there is (unfortunately) no magic bullet.

 

[gbb]

Im glad my mum (87) doesnt have a computer .
She's in hospital, just broke her hip and asked us to take her purse, , but take out the money in it and put it in the drawer, just leave £20 in the purse...ooh, and can you put my bingo purse away as well.

Over £1000 cash we've just put in our safe for her.
It' a different generation, we've told her so many times but she's spent 90% of her lfe where people could be trusted...its not like that now and hasn' been for a long time.

If she had a computer I suspect she'd have been fleeced long ago...and many times since.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If with BT you can set it up to block all with held numbers and calls from abroad etc. You do this online, so you could set it up and manage it on their behalf. It has certainly worked for us.

 

[Tin Pot]

I was also talking to a bank representative yesterday as well about an hour before that episode & he advised a few weekends they had had 24 events such as above which resulted in over £2million being removed from their customers accounts.

I’m not calling the bank rep a liar, but that’s an unlikely tale. Your contact points at the bank are rarely aware of any events unless they are directly involved some way. More likely this is something they overheard or were told to be true.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I’m not calling the bank rep a liar, but that’s an unlikely tale. Your contact points at the bank are rarely aware of any events unless they are directly involved some way. More likely this is something they overheard or were told to be true.

At the level I'm communicating at & with the resources on the joint task force I have no reason to not believe them.

 

[Tin Pot]

At the level I'm communicating at & with the resources on the joint task force I have no reason to not believe them.

Okay, as long as it’s not your local bank teller

Even then, 24 events averaging six figures each is remarkable in Retail Banking.