Part 5 · Safety and emergencies
The door, strangers, and scams
Content under professional review before publication.
1The door and strangers
The problem
Someone shows up at the door: they say they are from the electric or water company, a technician, or a salesperson. They pressure to come in, to charge for a repair, or to get something signed on the spot. Often it is a scam, and it targets those who live alone or get confused easily.
What is happening underneath
The scammer uses haste and authority: "it's urgent," "I'm from the company." An older, kind person tends to trust and not want to look bad. Stopping and verifying cuts off the deception.
Step by step
- Do not open the door to someone you were not expecting. Talk through the peephole or the window.
- Ask for identification, but an ID card is not enough: if they say they are from a company, you call it at the official number (from the bill or the website), never the one that person gives you.
- Never pay or sign anything on the spot. A real company lets you check it calmly and with the family.
- If they insist or pressure, close the door and, if needed, call the police or a neighbor.
- For the person who lives alone: leave a sign by the door with the phone numbers of the family and of emergency services.
What you must never do
- Never let in a stranger who arrives unannounced.
- Never pay for an "urgent" repair in cash at the door.
- Never sign papers you have not read calmly and with someone you trust.
When to ask for help
If someone prowled around the house or pressured the person, mention it to the family and, if appropriate, to the police. If there is doubt about a real charge, you call the company at the official number.
2The phone and the screens
The problem
By phone, message, or internet come very well-crafted deceptions: someone claiming to be from the bank or the government who threatens, a supposed grandchild asking for urgent money, a "prize" you must pay to collect, or a love who appears online and ends up asking for money.
What is happening underneath
They all use the same thing: urgency, fear, secrecy, and an odd payment (gift cards, transfers, cryptocurrency, cash). Today they even imitate a relative's voice. The golden rule is only one: stop and verify another way.
Step by step
- At an unexpected call or message asking for money or data, do nothing in the heat of the moment. Hang up and breathe.
- Verify on your own: call the bank, the agency, or the relative at the number you already know, never the one they gave you in the call or message.
- Never move money "to protect it" or give passwords, and never pay with gift cards or cryptocurrency: no real agency asks for that.
- Do not open links in unexpected messages; you type the official address into the browser yourself.
- Agree on a secret code word in the family: if a "grandchild" calls asking for money, they ask for it. The scammer does not know it.
What you must never do
- Never give data, passwords, or card numbers to someone who called or wrote without you expecting it.
- Never pay in advance to collect a prize: if it is real, you do not pay.
- Never keep the secret a stranger asks of you: the secret is the trap.
When to ask for help
If in doubt, stop and check with the family or the bank before paying anything. A second pair of eyes stops almost every scam.
3How to protect and what to do if it already happened
The problem
Anyone can fall for it, even prepared people: the scammers are very good. Loneliness and forgetfulness raise the risk. And shame makes many not tell, which makes them lose even more.
What is happening underneath
Protecting is not controlling or treating the person as incapable. It is accompanying, talking about the topic without scolding, and putting up a few simple barriers that stop the harm.
Step by step
- Talk about it often and without shame: knowing how scams work is the best defense.
- Agree on a trusted person to consult before moving money or facing something "urgent."
- With the person's permission, review the bank movements together now and then, to notice something odd in time.
- Ask the bank about movement alerts and about limits or double confirmation for large operations.
- If it already happened: do not blame them. Call the bank right away to freeze the account, change the passwords, gather the messages and receipts, and report it to the police and the consumer-protection authority.
What you must never do
- Never treat the person as foolish for falling for it: scolding makes them stay quiet next time.
- Never let time pass if you suspect fraud: every hour counts for the bank.
- Never strip away their autonomy all at once "for their own good": accompany, do not control.
When to ask for help
The numbers and agencies to report vary by country (police, consumer protection, fraud lines, the bank itself). Find out the ones for your place and keep them handy. Reporting helps stop the scammer and protect others.
What about the home?
This library is free. iliapp.com is a professional service that assesses the home to make it safer.
Discover iliapp.com- This content is for educational and general guidance purposes. It does not constitute legal, financial, or security advice.
- The types of scam, the reporting agencies, the numbers, and the laws vary by country and change over time. Find out and keep handy those of your place.
- Inclusive Living International (ILI), together with its directors, employees, and representatives, shall not be liable for losses, damages, or outcomes arising from the application of this information.
- Use of this guide is the responsibility of the person applying it. At a scam in progress or completed, contact the bank and your country's authorities immediately.
- The Spanish version is the governing legal document. Versions in other languages are a courtesy; in case of discrepancy, the Spanish version prevails.
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Content based on public-health and caregiver-support guidance and on internationally recognized clinical consensus. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any organization.