Someone is going to call your mom and pretend to be you
Scammers ran off with $7.7 billion reported by Americans over 60 in 2025 alone (FBI IC3) — most of it through a phone call or a text that felt real. This page is the conversation to have before that call comes. Free to read, free to share, no signup for any of it.
Send this page to your family — that's what it's for.
Every scam runs the same four moves
The stories change weekly. The mechanics never do. If your parents can name these four moves, they can stop most scams cold.
1. Impersonation
They pose as someone with a claim on your trust or fear: a grandchild, the bank's fraud team, the IRS, Medicare, Amazon. Caller ID and voices can both be faked — who someone sounds like proves nothing anymore.
2. Urgency
"Right now, or else." An arrest tonight, an account drained in an hour, a grandchild in a cell. Urgency exists to stop the one thing that kills every scam: pausing to think or ask someone.
3. Untraceable payment
Gift cards, wire transfers, crypto ATMs, couriers picking up cash. No real business, bank, or government agency settles anything this way — the payment method alone is the verdict.
4. Isolation
"Don't tell anyone." "Stay on the line with me." "This is confidential." Scammers know that the moment your dad mentions it to anyone, the spell breaks. Secrecy is never a feature of legitimate business.
See any one of these moves? Hang up, stop texting, and verify with a number you already trust.
The four scams to warn your parents about today
These account for an outsized share of losses among older adults. Describe them in advance and they lose most of their power.
"Grandma, it's me — I'm in trouble"
A panicked call or text from a "grandchild" who's been arrested or in an accident, often from a "new number," begging for bail money and secrecy. AI voice cloning has made these terrifyingly convincing. The counter: hang up and call the grandchild's real number, every time — and agree on a family code word now.
"This is your bank's fraud department"
"Someone's draining your account — we need to move your money to a safe account right now." Banks never ask you to move money, read back a code, or stay on the line during a transfer. The counter: hang up and call the number on the back of the card.
"There's a warrant for your arrest"
IRS, Social Security, jury duty, Medicare — a government imposter threatening arrest or suspended benefits unless paid today. Real agencies start with letters and never take gift cards or crypto. The counter: government threats by phone or text are fake, full stop.
"Your computer is infected — call this number"
A full-screen warning takes over the browser, sometimes with an alarm, and it will not close. There is a phone number in it — real Microsoft and Apple alerts never include one. The "technician" who answers wants remote access, or gift cards to fix it. The counter: a real error message never gives you a number to call. Close the window, or hold the power button until the machine shuts off.
Tape these warning signs by the phone
Get all four as a printable one-page PDF for the fridge or the phone table — plus one short email a month when a new scam starts hitting older adults. Unsubscribe anytime.
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Put these on your parents' home screen
Everything here is free and works without an account.
The ScamDrill app
Paste a text and get the beginner check with no account at all. On a Family plan she signs in with her email — no password — and can share a text straight from Messages, or check a screenshot; the picture never leaves her phone. App Store · Google Play
SMS Scam Checker
Paste any suspicious text and get an instant risk check — the red flags found and what to do next. Runs entirely in the browser; the message is never uploaded.
Scam IQ Quiz
Fifteen real-or-scam questions. Take it together — it's a painless way to start the conversation and find the blind spots.
How to Spot Common Scams
A plain-English field guide to phishing, smishing, tech-support, romance, and impersonation scams — written for sharing with family.
"I've Been Scammed — What Now?"
If it already happened: answer a few questions and get an immediate action plan — who to call first and how to limit the damage.
Have a teenager too? The scams aimed at them look nothing like these →
Worried about someone they met online? Romance scams run a slower script, and need a different conversation →
How to bring it up without talking down
Nobody wants a lecture about being gullible — and falling for a modern scam has nothing to do with intelligence. Frame it as a family policy, not a personal weakness.
Lead with yourself
"I almost clicked one of these last week" lands better than "you need to be careful." Everyone gets targeted; say so.
Agree on a code word
One family password for any urgent money request, no matter how real the voice sounds. Pick it at dinner; it takes a minute.
Set the verify-first rule
Any call or text about money or trouble gets verified on a known number — or run through the app — before anything else happens. No exceptions — including for things that sound like you.
Practice, don't just warn
Reading about scams isn't the same as catching one. Safe, realistic practice builds the reflex that holds up under pressure.
Move fast, skip the shame
Acting in the first hours matters far more than how it happened. Call the bank or card issuer first to freeze and dispute, then report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov — and forward scam texts to 7726 so carriers can block the sender. Our free step-by-step tool walks through the rest in order. One more thing to say out loud to your parent: these operations are run by professionals who fool lawyers, engineers, and bankers every day. Being targeted is not a verdict on them.
Reading this page protects them once. Practice protects them every week.
ScamDrill sends your parents safe, realistic practice scams by email and text — tuned to their age and the scams that actually target them — and shows you how their instincts are improving. You manage it; they just get better.
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