of how sane or tracking they seem to be, PLEASE do. I would say: “Please tell me you will NEVER wire, email, give your credit card to someone on the phone no matter how urgent/critical/ominous they make it sound.

They may claim to be from the police, courts, IRS, FBI, kidnappers, terrorists, Church leadership, etc. It may even be made to sound like you - their child - but they should not wire funds, give bank or credit info, or click a link EVER.”

Give them an out by telling the person on the phone to send a letter with documentation so that they can confer with their legal counsel and then hang up immediately. Then call you you and others they trust while they wait for those legal documents that will never come.

People are losing their remaining savings and suffering from increasingly sophisticated scams. You’d be surprised who gets taken for whatever liquid assets they have left even though they seem to be as sensible as ever.