LambriniBobInIsleworthISeesYa ·
21/04/2026 14:32
Would appreciate advice from anyone who might have any suggestions on how to help.
After falling for a gift card scam (I know, I know) my almost 80yr old Dad clearly can’t be trusted when he’s let loose with a smart phone. However for safety he needs a phone we can track him on (gives us all peace of mind) and my Mum also has an iPhone so this is why he has one too.
Along with the gift card messages he gets other scam messages via WhatsApp and Facebook literally hourly. You think of a scam, he gets them. Some of these numbers phone him too. My Mum has changed his number now, but he is still getting fishing messages (although not quite as many) via WhatsApp, text and Facebook.
I think that his whole Facebook needs shutting down (with a new one set up if he wants it to keep up with family etc) and maybe a factory reset. Am I right in thinking that this might help?
And what other things can my Mum put on an iPhone SE (from 2022) to keep him safe from his ow stupidity? He isn’t tech savvy enough to get rid of anything she puts on there, so that’s a positive. We want him to be able to allow him the freedom to keep up with friends and family in various ways, without putting him in danger.
FWIW we’ve tried educating him on how internet scammers work, and whilst he isn’t a stupid man by any means, he’s stubborn and doesn’t understand some fundamental things about how the phone even works (for example, that Facebook and WhatsApp aren’t part of one app). He has the attention span of a gnat (me and my siblings and several grandchildren have ADHD- he’s definitely the cause of it!) and very little patience for having things explained to him, so better to just put things in place to protect him.
He used to be very physically active (has a heart condition now, so can’t do the sport he used to- also why we like to be able to see where he is) and I think is quite sad and bored, hence how he’s become Scam Magnet No. 1, but won’t engage in anything we offer. He doesn’t like socialising or anything he could do alone, the only things he likes are physical things that he cat do any more. This is all part of a bigger issue, but one step at a time in terms of getting things sorted…. I’d like him not to spend his and my Mum’s life savings on Apple Gift Cards before I tackle his enuii.
All advice gratefully received.