Anyone elderly parent irrationally afraid of being scammed?

[Trikebaby]

Mother is 93, still lives alone and is mostly independent apart from having shopping done for her.
Lockdown has been difficult as she still expects visits from all the family, she’s very contrary as one minute she’s not worried about catching COVID yet when on of the family had to go for a test she was scared she’d caught it.

She seems to have developed lots of worries - she worries about everything, her shopping, the garden, the house, her hair, how she’s going to manage, when I reality she has absolutely nothing to worry about. She gets her shopping done for her, her cleaning is mostly done for her, she gets cooked meals given to her 3 times a week and she makes her own the other days.
Her biggest worry though is being scammed. She is convinced that anyone that comes to the house to offer a service is out to rob her, empty her bank account.

Nuisance calls she frets and worries about and thinks they will empty her bank account via the phone. She has taken to avoiding answering the phone now in case it’s a Scam call. Everything is scamming her.
Explaining and reassuring doesn’t work. Yet when she wants to be she’s sharp and doesn’t miss anything. She gets annoyed if you treat her like someone who needs help yet on the other hand she’s always saying how much she can’t cope. She can’t come and live with me - I have no room and work full time, but won’t entertain help as carers will scam her and she could catch COVID.

Just at a loss really, finding it difficult to keep patient. Anyone else find worrying seems to be a pattern?

This sort of anxiety is a common feature of growing old and faculties declining. Explaining and reassuring will make her feel more worried and alone because she can't make you understand the danger. Imagine being aware of a danger, and your own family don't see the danger, so not only do they not help you avoid the danger, they are putting you in more danger - a terrifying situation to be in. Better for you to go along with it and put measures in place to counter all the dangers - for example call screening on the telephone.

My father was also doing this. In his case, he was weaving together half remembered stories from programmes like You and Yours and Money Box, and was convinced that a large utility was buying up freeholds of land without the freeholder being aware, then suing the occupier for unpaid ground rent, asking for the court to collect the payment, which meant that failure to pay was contempt of court, with the result that "I will be in Prison by Christmas and You will be Bankrupt". Fortunately it didn't impact on day to day life, although it took several falls and spells in hospital before he accepted meals on wheels and carers coming in, something which lasted 3 months before it became clear he needed more support, and he is now in a nursing home, where they are very sympathetic in listening to his concerns and coming up with a solution which satisfies him (eg undertaking to write about his concerns to the Minister).

However, don't assume this is the beginning of the end. Keep an eye on what she actually is eating, make sure she isn't getting any deficiencies. If you can get her to the GP for a general check-up and urine test, do. This may have an easily rectified physical cause.