Helping Your Parents Say No to Scam Calls Without Feeling Rude

July 10, 2025

Your parents probably used to answer every ring. Back then, it was the neighbor, the doctor, or someone calling just to chat. Letting the phone go to voicemail felt rude.

Fast forward to today:
The same habit that once kept them connected now leaves them vulnerable and overwhelmed.

The Emotional Weight of Not Answering

Many older adults still feel obligated to pick up every call—even if they don’t recognize the number.
When they do, they’re often met with:

• Aggressive scammers pretending to be banks or government agencies
• Robocalls about fake charges or expired warranties
• Manipulative scripts that play on fear, urgency, or confusion

It’s not just annoying. It’s embarrassing. Some parents feel ashamed when they fall for a scam—or guilty when they stop answering, like they’re being impolite or letting someone down.

Why It’s Hard for Them to Ignore a Call

This isn’t just about habits. It’s generational values.
Our parents were raised to be:

• Helpful
• Trusting
• Available by phone

But scammers exploit exactly those values.

How You Can Help

Start by normalizing screening calls. Reassure your parents that:

• It's not rude—it's smart
• You (and most people) don’t answer unknown numbers either
• Real friends and professionals will leave a voicemail

Here are a few practical tips:

1. Enable scam filtering on their phone (if it's available)
2. Check their recent calls for unknown numbers. If it should be a contact, add it to their contacts list
3. Role-play common scam scenarios so they know what to do if they pick up, you can find more examples in our Scamcyclopedia. Bonus points for different voices. Help them hang up, even when the person sounds authoritative, or has an American accent.

Let Them Know: It’s Not Their Fault

If they’ve been scammed before, remind them: scammers are professionals. Even tech-savvy adults get tricked. This is about safety—not shame.

Get yourself support when you need it.

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Do they rely on you for help spotting scams? Many of our customers use the copy button after they submit a screenshot to ScamFerret. It grabs all the text, so they can just paste it into a text back to their loved one.