[olmo23]

I told my parents: if they are ever called by anyone, to tell them "now is not a good time, please give me a case number and I'll call back when I do have the time."

And then, this is important, look up the number for the customer service hotline online.

I feel like this is a simple solution that works 100% of the time.

[e40]

My dad googled “amex phone number” and called the first result. I spent most of a Saturday cleaning up after the scammers.

I told him, next time call the number on the back of your card.

[MaxGabriel]

Any chance the first result was an ad? Those are definitely a popular phishing distribution mechanism, so getting your parents an adblocker could help

[qingcharles]

I just got a family member to install one after they Google'd a hotel name and accidentally clicked the first ad instead of the hotel site.

[dspillett]

Another top tip is how to response to “can I just confirm”. No, they can't just confirm any details, until they have confirmed who they are, which they can't do without us calling them on the company's published support number.

Luckily my parents are appropriately cynical and have not fallen for anything like that, but I know a couple of people of my generation who have (in the worst case losing 5K+ in savings, back when there was no onus on UK banks to take any responsibility for such fraud through their systems so it was properly lost to them).

[argee]

Mike Tyson once said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". I think you are underestimating the underhanded tactics and emotional tools available to scammers to keep you on the line.

[dspillett]

When I'm at home with the old man (mam is unfortunately in a care home), it _really_ irritates me how many scam calls he gets some days. Most of them are obvious: they just hang up when you pick up, the line is very bad or the caller is otherwise barely intelligible (i.e. they are speaking their 4th language), they refer to an account that doesn't exist or a fictitious government agency. But the occasional one is very smooth, and sometimes even have a few details about Dad's life and/or accounts that give pause (either of the form “could this actually be real” or “I wonder how have they collected and associated that?”).

If my family are anything to go by, they definitely target the elderly more than even one generation down (so it isn't just due to those of the younger generations often only having mobile phones and landlines are more targeted) because they know those tend to be more susceptible to the con and more likely to have some savings worth pillaging.

Also in DayJob, some of our C*s and others associated with them (PAs, office managers) have seen some pretty sophisticated phishing attempts, both targeting the business's dealings and their personal accounts. I get the impression that these are reducing in number ATM (or the filtering of them is improving) but that those coming in are making an increasing effort to be convincing.

[razakel]

It may be worth looking into getting him a phone that only allows trusted numbers to call him.

But regarding scammers, asking "is your mother proud that she raised a thief?" really annoys them.

One of them threatened to come over and rape my sister.

I don't have a sister.