Scam Texts and Calls: How to Protect an Elderly Parent (and the Phone Settings That Help)

Three rules stop most scams aimed at older people: a bank, HMRC or the police never ask you to move money or read out a code; hang up and ring back on the number on the bank card; never follow a link in a text about a parcel or a fine. Then spend an hour on the phone settings below.

The scams doing the rounds right now

These are the six we are asked about most on visits to older customers in Sussex this autumn. The names change; the pattern does not: every one creates a hurry, and the hurry is the tell.

Scam	What it looks like	What to do
Fake parking fine	A text about an unpaid parking charge, often in the ParkingEye or RingGo name, with a link to pay before it doubles	Real parking charges arrive by post. Delete and forward to 7726.
Royal Mail redelivery	A text saying a parcel could not be delivered and a small fee rebooks it	Royal Mail never charges a redelivery fee by text. Check tracking in its app, not the link.
"EE reward points"	A text saying your points are about to expire, with a link to claim them	Your network's rewards live in its own app. Delete and forward to 7726.
HMRC refund	A text or email saying you are owed a refund and must enter bank details	HMRC never texts about refunds. Check your account on GOV.UK if in doubt.
"Hi Mum, new number"	A WhatsApp from an unknown number claiming to be a child with a lost phone who needs money urgently	Ring the child on the number you already have. Never pay until you have heard their voice.
"Safe account" bank call	A call saying your account is compromised and money must move to a safe account, sometimes with a "courier" sent for your cards	Hang up. Banks never move your money for you. Ring 159 from another phone and ask.

The rules to put on a card by the phone

Write these on a card by the phone; they do not depend on spotting the scam, only on refusing to act in the moment.

1. Nobody official will ever ask you to move money or read out a code. Not the bank, not HMRC, not the police.
2. Hang up and ring back on the number printed on your bank card, from a different phone if you have one.
3. Never follow a link in a text about a parcel, a fine, a refund or reward points. Go to the company's app instead.
4. Forward scam texts to 7726 (it spells SPAM). It is free, and your network uses the reports to block the sender.
5. If money has gone, ring 159, which connects to most UK banks, at once. Then report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland).

The phone settings to change on your next visit

An hour's work that removes most of the noise before it reaches your parent. Do it with them, not for them, so they know why the phone has gone quieter.

iPhone

Open Settings, then Phone, and turn on Silence Unknown Callers. Calls from numbers not in Contacts go to voicemail without ringing; anyone who matters leaves a message. Then Settings, Messages, and turn on Filter Unknown Senders, which moves texts from unknown numbers into a separate list with no alert. Save family, the GP surgery, the pharmacy and the carer in Contacts first, or they will be silenced too.

Android

In the Phone app, open Settings, then Caller ID and spam, and turn on spam protection and filtering. Samsung calls it Caller ID and spam protection, and Google Messages has its own spam switch. The wording moves between versions; if in doubt, search Settings for "spam".

The landline

Most providers offer free call screening (BT Call Protect, Sky Talk Shield, TalkTalk CallSafe) that sends known nuisance numbers to junk voicemail; ring them to switch it on. For a parent who gets a lot of calls, a trueCall blocker (about £100 to £150 at the time of writing) is stronger: it only lets through numbers on an approved list and makes everyone else say who they are first. Some councils' trading standards teams lend them free. Pair it with a big-button phone that shows the caller's name.

Family habits that beat the scammers

Settings help, but the costliest scams get through by persuasion on a phone call. These habits close that route.

• Set up a family WhatsApp group with your parent in it. A "new number" message is checked in a minute, and a photo of a suspicious text gets a quick answer.
• Agree a family password. Any request for money, from any number, in any voice, gets the password first. Voice cloning makes this matter more than it did a year ago.
• In the banking app, set the daily transfer limit to a few hundred pounds and check Confirmation of Payee is on, so a payment to a name that does not match the account is flagged.
• Make sure your parent knows they will never be in trouble for telling you. Most losses grow because the first call was kept quiet.

The landline switch-off gives scammers a new script

The analogue phone network is switched off on 31 January 2027 and every landline moves to broadband, so scammers now ring as a BT or Openreach "engineer" who needs a payment, remote access to a computer or a code to keep the line on. A real migration asks for none of that: a letter, a new router or adapter in the post, and no request for card details. Our switch-off guide covers pendants and care alarms.

Where our Guardian monitoring fits, and where it does not

Guardian does not stop scams. It is a set of discreet sensors that learns a parent's normal day and shows the family on their phones. What it changes is noticing: the morning the kettle did not go on, an afternoon sat by the phone instead of in the garden, the front door opening twice at 9pm. Those are the moments a scam is happening, and a quick call from a daughter or son interrupts it.

The visit to set up the phone is also the one to decide whether Guardian makes sense. We fit it across West and East Sussex, there are no cameras in private rooms, and we will say if a pendant or personal alarm is the better fit. For the wider picture, see helping elderly parents live independently and our comparison of elderly monitoring systems in the UK.