Technology safeguards — call blocking, email filtering, account alerts
Reviewed by the How To Help Your Elders Team
Scam calls, phishing emails, and account hacking are constant threats to your parent's money and peace of mind. The right technology safeguards won't stop everything, but they dramatically reduce exposure. Here's what to set up, how to do it, and what actually works.
Your parent's phone rings constantly with scam calls. Your parent gets dozens of emails from people claiming to be banks or tech companies. Your parent's computer is slow and might have malware. Your parent's accounts are vulnerable to hackers. All of these problems have technology solutions, but many families don't know these solutions exist or how to set them up.
Technology safeguards aren't perfect, and they don't prevent all fraud. But they reduce the volume of scams your parent is exposed to, they slow down potential fraud, and they alert you both to suspicious activity. The FBI's IC3 reports that adults over 60 lost over $3.4 billion to cyber-enabled fraud in a recent year. The FTC found that phone calls remain the number one contact method for scams targeting older adults, followed by email and text messages. The CFPB has specifically recommended that families set up transaction alerts on elder accounts as a front-line defense against financial exploitation. Combined with awareness and healthy skepticism, these safeguards significantly reduce your parent's risk.
Understand the Tools
Call blocking and filtering technology identifies likely scam calls and either blocks them or flags them for your parent to review. The technology works by identifying patterns from known scam phone numbers, flagging numbers that use spoofing technology, or using pattern recognition to identify calls that look like scams based on calling behavior and frequency.
Different phone carriers offer different services. AT&T Call Protect, Verizon Call Filter, and T-Mobile Scam Shield are services offered by major carriers. These services typically have free versions with basic protection and paid versions with stronger protection. Independent services like Nomorobo also exist and can be added to phone service. Most of these can be activated with a single phone call to the carrier.
Email filtering works similarly. Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo automatically filter suspected phishing emails and spam into a spam folder. Additional filtering can be added through third-party services or security software, though the built-in filters are increasingly effective on their own.
Two-factor authentication requires two pieces of information to access an account. Your parent knows their password, but accessing the account also requires something only your parent has, like a code sent to their phone or generated by an authenticator app. This prevents hackers from accessing accounts even if they've stolen the password. It's one of the single most effective security measures available.
Account alerts notify your parent (or you, if you're set up to receive them) when unusual activity occurs. Your parent can set alerts for logins from new devices, for large transactions, for password changes, or for any number of suspicious activities. When an alert is triggered, the notification creates a chance to catch unauthorized activity quickly.
Antivirus and antimalware software protects your parent's computer from malicious software that can steal passwords, record keystrokes, or damage the computer. Installing and keeping this software updated reduces your parent's risk of computer infection.
Assess Your Parent's Situation
How many scam calls is your parent receiving? If it's a few per week, call blocking is still worthwhile but less urgent. If it's multiple per day, call blocking is important. When volume is high, it's not just annoying, it's also more likely that your parent will slip up and answer one or engage with a caller who seems convincing.
Is your parent receiving targeted scams or generic scams? If your parent is receiving calls from the "IRS" claiming your parent owes taxes, that's a generic scam targeting many people. If your parent is receiving calls from people who know specific details about your parent, that's more concerning and might indicate that your parent's information was stolen and is circulating among scammers.
How comfortable is your parent with technology? Can your parent understand and manage these safeguards themselves, or do they need help setting them up and maintaining them? If your parent needs help, you'll need to assist or bring in someone who can.
Does your parent do banking, shopping, or other sensitive activities online? The more your parent does online, the more protection makes sense. And how likely is your parent to actually use the tools if you set them up? If you set up two-factor authentication and your parent finds it too inconvenient and turns it off, it's not helping anyone. You need tools that your parent will tolerate and keep using.
Set Everything Up
Call your parent's phone provider and ask about call-blocking services. Most carriers offer something. Ask whether it's included in your parent's plan or whether there's a fee. Understand how it works and what your parent will see when a call is blocked or flagged. Help your parent enable it if they need assistance, or do it together so they understand what changed.
For email, talk to your parent about not clicking links in unexpected emails. If an email claims to be from a bank asking your parent to verify information, your parent should go directly to the bank's website by typing the address, or call the bank, rather than clicking a link in the email. Email filtering helps, but skepticism is the best defense against phishing because even good filters miss some messages.
Set up two-factor authentication on your parent's important accounts. Email is the most important, because if a hacker gets your parent's email password and email has two-factor authentication, the hacker still can't get in. That protects all of your parent's other accounts that use email to reset passwords. Banking and investment accounts should also have two-factor authentication if your parent has significant money in them.
Two-factor authentication can be inconvenient. Every time your parent logs in from a new device or their phone settings change, they might need to re-verify. Help your parent understand why this is worth the inconvenience, or find authentication methods that feel less cumbersome. Some banks allow biometric authentication (fingerprint or face), which many older adults find easier than typing codes.
Set up account alerts on financial accounts for transactions above a certain amount. Your parent should be alerted to any large transfer or withdrawal. This gives your parent, or you if you receive the alerts too, a chance to catch unauthorized activity quickly.
Make sure your parent's antivirus software is up to date. If your parent is using old security software or no security software, they're more exposed than they need to be. Windows Defender (built into Windows) and Apple's built-in protections (on Mac) are often sufficient for basic defense. Make sure they're enabled and updated.
Help your parent create strong passwords if they're willing. Common passwords like "password" or a birth year are not secure. Strong passwords are long, use a mix of character types, and are hard to guess. A password manager can help your parent remember complex passwords without writing them on a sticky note next to the computer.
Explain to your parent what these protections do without being condescending. "This will help you avoid scam calls." "This will let you know if someone tries to use your account without permission." "This will slow down a hacker even if they steal your password." Your parent is more likely to use these protections if they understand the specific problem each one solves.
Technology safeguards work best in combination with awareness. A blocked scam call is good, but a parent who doesn't fall for a scam call even if it gets through is also protected. Two-factor authentication is strong, but a parent who doesn't share their password is also protected. The technology and the human awareness together protect your parent far better than either alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the single most important technology safeguard I should set up for my parent?
Two-factor authentication on their email account. Email is the gateway to everything else: password resets, financial accounts, medical records. If a hacker can't get into your parent's email, they can't use it to break into other accounts. This one step blocks the majority of account-takeover attacks.
My parent keeps answering scam calls even with call blocking enabled. What else can I do?
Call blocking reduces volume but doesn't catch everything. Consider registering your parent's number on the National Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov), though this only stops legitimate telemarketers, not criminals. You can also set your parent's phone to silence unknown callers (both iPhone and Android have this feature), so only calls from known contacts ring through.
How do I set up account alerts if I'm not on my parent's bank account?
You'll need your parent's cooperation or legal authority (power of attorney) to set up alerts. Most banks allow alerts to be sent to multiple phone numbers or email addresses, so your parent can add your contact information as a notification recipient. Call the bank together and ask about their alert options.
Is free antivirus software good enough, or should I pay for a subscription?
For most older adults, the built-in protections (Windows Defender on PC, XProtect on Mac) combined with careful browsing habits are sufficient. Paid antivirus software adds features like enhanced phishing protection and VPN access, which can be useful if your parent does a lot of online shopping or banking. The most important thing is that whatever software is installed stays updated.
My parent uses a tablet, not a computer. Do they still need these safeguards?
Yes. Tablets running iOS or Android are vulnerable to phishing emails, scam calls (if used as a phone), and malicious websites. Enable two-factor authentication on all accounts accessed from the tablet, keep the operating system updated, and make sure your parent understands not to click suspicious links regardless of the device they're using.