Personal and family security

Older people

An older person is often vulnerable financially, digitally, psychologically and physically at the same time. This is the second audience that needs a permanent desk of its own.

The format here is «explained in plain words». Not «enable two-factor authentication», but «someone calls and says money is being taken from your card — here is what to do, step by step».

Fraudsters work with psychology rather than technology: fear, authority, urgency, care for children and grandchildren, trust in state bodies and the promise of profit. So the desk combines profiling, law, information security and economic security at once.

Core pain

«I don't understand who can be trusted in today's digital world».

Section topics

Financial safety

Phone fraud
Fake bank employees
Fake government officials
Investment fraud
Crypto fraud
Extraction of codes
Loans taken out in your name
Pension and benefit fraud

Protecting property

Property fraud
Powers of attorney
Selling a flat
Gift deeds
Inheritance
Land plots
Forged documents
Fraud by so-called helpers

Digital safety

Complicated interfaces
Weak passwords
Two-factor authentication
Unknown applications
Phishing
Account takeover
Losing access to the banking app

Psychological defence

Fear
Authority
Urgency
Guilt
Care for relatives
Threat of punishment
Promise of profit

Section rules

No bank, police or government employee ever asks for an SMS code, dictates what to tap in an app or demands a transfer to a «safe account». No such account exists.
The one-call rule: hang up and call back yourself, using the number on your card or on the official website — never the number you were given.
Do not install applications at a caller's request — that is the most common way remote access to a phone is obtained.
Agree with your family: any decision about money, a power of attorney or property waits at least a day. Urgency is a sign of a scheme.

Important

We write this desk without a condescending tone on principle. The victim of a modern scheme is not a «naive person» but someone who was caught at the right moment.

Check yourself

How protected is your older relative?

Phone and bank schemes, access to money, documents, property and the agreements inside the family.

Take the test