Dirty rotten scammers

Yes we watch it. It's scary how easy it can happen. We watched it the other morning and just after it finished the phone rang and a woman asked us about a car crash we had been in. We haven't been in any sort of crash and I told her politely to get lost.

The program said that some old people never recover from being scammed. There is a likelihood that within 3 years they will die or end up in a care home. What a horrible thought.

I diont think its just the loss of the money which may be a considerable part of their savings. It is the feeling that you can never trust anyone again. People feel guilt helplessness and self blame - especially if the money lost was in a joint account with a partner.

One of the reasons I donjt use a smart phone but keep my old dumb phone so people cant send me links. I also use a phone blocked on my land line with only close friends and family on my white list. I google all unknown calls and block most.

The harder you make it for people to get in touch with you the less likely you are to be targeted. In the same way I have no photos or personal details on my Facebook page.

Trouble with blocking unknown numbers is that there are people trying to get in touch….maybe the doctor, surgery or hospital. These are examples of numbers that have rung me recently.

i agree.
i have never had a scam or marketing call since i got call guardian phones for landline.
it's really simple and not expensive. all unknown numbers are intercepted; it's like a kind of answerphone. people have to state their business which is recorded, then the phone rings and i hear that recording. i can choose to talk to them or not.
they are told to stay on the line. scammers etc don't bother.
i don't get random calls on my mobile. its 20 years old, quite basic, and i don't give out the number unless i really have to.

Recently, Santander informed me that someone was trying to hack into my account, but they had blocked it. That’s the nearest I have come to a scammer

It does go against the grain with me that every time the phone rings if I don't recognise the number I don't answer but check with "who called me".
I feel that I have to be alert all the time.

Sometimes the type of call blockers where people need to choose to accept the call by pressing a button etc are too complicated for elderly people or for those in the early stages of dementia.

My mum was continually being scammed over the phone and would happily give away her bank details so I did some research and bought a call blocker which required no actions from mum. It was a box which plugged into her phone line to intercept all calls other than from numbers which I input into a trusted list using my computer. Everyone else heard a message which I recorded telling them to call my mobile number if they wanted to contact mum. This meant old friends I had forgotten about or medical calls could still be dealt with but salespeople/scammers gave up. I used the highest level of security but it also offered lower levels which left the phone user some independence but Mums dementia made this high level necessary. Mum had no idea I had installed the device.

For a small annual fee, I was able to access the phone records online to see who had called and it was very interesting to see that unknown numbers dwindled quite rapidly once the blocker was in use. It was expensive, over £100 but well worth it.

If you are interested, please send me a message and I will tell you the name - I don’t think I can advertise it on here.