Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the machine via teamviewer etc.
I've managed to limit his internet usage to an iPad and a chromebook - but as mentioned above that does little good. He is extremely proud and talking to him is useless. A good chunk of these events come while browsing porn, which he refuses to admit. I feel hopeless and am in the process of separating any financial connections with my mother for fear I'll become a victim. My mother has been saving cash for years to insulate herself (my dad also refuses to write a will - but thats another problem entirely).
I know a major event is coming soon. While I'm fairly certain his porn usage is tame, all it would take is a fake $THAT_ACTRESS_WAS_ACTUALLY_17_WE_WILL_REPORT_TO_FBI email and he could probably be extorted for everything he has. I don't know what to do honestly. This is a real threat to millions of Americans and it seems there is no solution.
Where I work spear-phishing is a real concern, so they have instituted a training program where they send fake phishing emails every now and then. If you fall for it, you are directed to a training page. If you spot it and click the "report" button, you are greeted with a message congratulating you for being on the ball.
Perhaps some training is in order. You may not have the means to simulate a scam from his favorite "adult" website, but perhaps you could do something with a throwaway email account, or maybe simulate collateral damage from a successful scam.
And yes, you need to insulate your respective financial lives from that risk ASAP
Have you considered running OpenWRT / LEDE or a pi-hole (https://pi-hole.net/) to block adverts / known websites where such scams occur at a network level?
(There are publicly available lists of known botnet / scam IP's)
So far I have just installed Ghostery for my parents, since it doesn't break most sites, and they are sharp and AFAIK don't visit sketchy sites. But I have seen one grandfather turned into a Fox Geezer and ripped off by scammers, despite his children trying to clue him in, so I suspect I will have to do something more aggressive at some point in the future. Thankfully, I think they have enough distrust of humanity that I should have no problem installing a firewall.
Also, they thankfully show no interest in social networks.
I would also consider installing ad blocker(s) into his browser (and possibly hiding the icon) along with the anti ad blocker blocker, so not to get those pop ups saying you are using ad blocking. It is what I have done with family in the past in order to help cut down on a lot of that stuff.
Scammers know the older generation is ripe for exploitation. One of my older relatives, who I'll call Bill, has had a few hacking incidences. Most recently they had their email compromised. The perpetrator must have dug through it quickly because hours later they called up Bill's financial advisor and requested 90k be transferred from his 401k. The financial advisor later told Bill that the reason he didn't do the transfer was because he realized that the voice calling him wasn't Bill's.
This might sound weird, but what about buying him a premium porn account? Maybe don't even tell him about it, let him find it. Ideally one with an app, a good reputation and clean (infosec-wise) content. It would be like a $30/mo insurance policy on your dad's assets!
Or even just install a porn blocker on the machine. He'd probably move to using his phone or something, but at least it isn't the same machine he does finances on.
> my dad also refuses to write a will - but thats another problem entirely
Another problem, yes - but a huge one all the same. Does your mother have a will?
I went thru this with my parents; my dad had a will but my mom did not. My dad passed away; no biggie. But my mom never probated his will. I didn't find this out until after she passed away - without a will.
I ended up spending quite a bit of money with a lawyer, plus more than a few trips between where I live and where my parents lived (thankfully only a few hundred miles away - but still far enough to be annoying), plus gathering documents, and a whole host of other issues.
It was not fun. The only thing that saved my butt was the fact that before my mom passed, I was able to get power of attorney (as well as medical POA), because she ultimately slipped into dementia (my wife and I caught it in the nick of time, while my mother was still coherent enough). Without that, accounts would have been frozen preventing me from taking care of my mother before she passed, and later the estate, afterward (though I had to go thru a short process to be appointed as executor).
But without a will, and my dad's will not probated, things went slowly. There were fortunately no real major assets involved (a house and a couple of old cars were the only things), plus I was an "only child" - but I still had to go thru the process of no one contesting my dad's will (I did worry that something might come up from his past or from his family), or contesting me as sole heir.
Ultimately it worked out - but it could have turned into more of a logistical nightmare than the merely annoying situation it only turned out to be.
So - I implore you to try to fix this, especially if other family or large assets are involved. If not, and you don't care about things otherwise, you might talk with a lawyer about other options. I am not sure if this is possible, but it might be possible to "reverse disown" your immediate family (mother/father). It would be a very harsh thing to do, but it may be the only thing that keeps you from being dragged down into a potential economic morass.
How about you print and show him some horror stories of confessions from people who've been scammed or extorted online, There might even exist whole books with this stuff on Amazon. If he doesn't trust your opinion (sounds like exactly my dad) he might trust someone more authoritative. Even FBI could have stories like that.
I wonder if a router-based solution to limiting his traffic would work. DD-WRT or something else with an online solution for dynamic limiting of sites might help.
I'd start looking for an attorney who's familiar with elder abuse situations and can tell you about your options. If you can gather the right evidence, something can be done.
What does this even mean? Being concerned your dad may fall for scams doesn't mean you should talk to an elder abuse attorney???
1) Someone elderly being scammed by randos is not elder abuse.
2) if there is a scam your "elder abuse attorney" is not going to be able to do any more than the police considering the vast majority of these scams are from overseas.
That is the porn-equivalent of suggesting that abstinence is the solution to teen pregnancy. It may be technically correct insofar as abstinence obviously works for those that rigorously follow it, but fails to account for the simple fact that teenagers have sex regardless of whether they are told not to.
Shaming porn usage does nothing to reduce its prevalence and just encourages users to hide and deny, hence your suggestion is not productive.
I've managed to limit his internet usage to an iPad and a chromebook - but as mentioned above that does little good. He is extremely proud and talking to him is useless. A good chunk of these events come while browsing porn, which he refuses to admit. I feel hopeless and am in the process of separating any financial connections with my mother for fear I'll become a victim. My mother has been saving cash for years to insulate herself (my dad also refuses to write a will - but thats another problem entirely).
I know a major event is coming soon. While I'm fairly certain his porn usage is tame, all it would take is a fake $THAT_ACTRESS_WAS_ACTUALLY_17_WE_WILL_REPORT_TO_FBI email and he could probably be extorted for everything he has. I don't know what to do honestly. This is a real threat to millions of Americans and it seems there is no solution.