How do you keep aging parents/grandparents safe online?

Pop-up "support" scams are particularly nasty because they hijack your screen and make closing them deliberately difficult ΓÇö if your parent sees a fake warning, they should never click anything on that pop-up itself, but instead force-close the browser entirely (hold the power button, or use Task Manager on Windows). A quick call to you or a trusted family member before handing over any money costs nothing and catches these thieves red-handed, which is exactly why your sister's intervention worked so well.

Stop and think before you act. If something feels urgent, threatening, or too good to be true ΓÇö that urgency is the weapon. Scammers use pressure to override your judgement. Nothing is ever so urgent that you can't take five minutes to check, call back on a number you found yourself, or ask someone you trust.