My mother is getting really anxious about using her phone these past few weeks to the point where she won’t answer my calls and it’s causing a lot of problems.

Mammy has lived alone since my father passed away three years ago and thankfully she’s hale and hearty and still out on the farm every day. My sisters and I live near enough to the home house but none of us took over the farm so we have a lad in managing it for us.

All was fine until my aunt, Mam’s sister, almost got conned out of a lot of money from a scam caller. Some fella rang her pretending to be from the credit union and she was on the verge of handing over information when the dog went berserk at someone at the front door and she lost her concentration. Luckily, my cousin had arrived by chance and hung up the call when he figured out what was going on.

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But now Mammy is petrified that she’ll get a similar call and won’t know what to do. She’s convinced that these scammers will target her, to the point where she won’t answer her phone. We got rid of the landline after Daddy died as we thought it safer for Mam to have a phone on her at all times in case of falls or other accidents. But it’s not much use if she doesn’t answer it.

– Frustrated daughter,

Co Mayo

Dear reader,

Scammers are the bane of everyone’s life these days and it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape their criminal methods of stealing money, so it is not surprising to hear your mother’s experience has unsettled your mother.

I would suggest you and your sisters arrange a sit-down chat with your mother to explain how she can protect herself from this type of fraud, without cutting herself off from her family and the wider world.

You can also reassure her that it is quite common for people to be contacted by scammers, with research by ComReg showing 90% of Irish adults have received a scam call to their mobile phone.

If any family or friends live abroad, make sure she knows the prefix of the country they’re likely to ring from and then she can answer their calls with confidence

It might be helpful to go through your mother’s phone to ensure she has stored all her family’s numbers along with friends and essential numbers such as the doctor or other healthcare professionals that she may need.

If any family or friends live abroad, make sure she knows the prefix of the country they’re likely to ring from and then she can answer their calls with confidence.

If she doesn’t recognise any numbers coming up on her phone, she simply doesn’t answer. If she does end up answering a call from a number she doesn’t recognise, she should never share personal/financial details and if she is in any doubt as to the authenticity of the caller she should hang up.

Scammers are clever though and can do a convincing job of claiming to be from the bank, the phone company or the ESB. If this happens, she should hang up and ring the company or agency directly, using the numbers on her bills.

This may all seem like basic advice to some people, given all the coverage surrounding scam calls, but for a vulnerable lady living alone, she needs to be reassured that she is capable of protecting herself from unscrupulous individuals.

Do you have a problem you would like to share? If so, write in confidence to: Dear Miriam, Agony Aunt, Irish Country Living, Irish Farmers Journal, Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12, or email miriam@farmersjournal.ie