Many older people ‘not confident’ about using emails

I don’t think we should be terribly shocked that email scammers go after older people more than younger (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 601). It’s important to remember that scams have existed for centuries, and that older people have probably always been considered more gullible than younger people. In the years before the internet, there were lots of warnings about fraudsters going door to door, picking out the elderly.

The big difference now of course is that scammers can ‘knock’ on millions of doors at once by sending an email. There’s also a technological difference. It doesn’t take any technical expertise to decide whether you should open the door to someone. Yes, you need your wits about you, but you’re in familiar territory.

The same isn’t true when dealing with emails. My 83-year-old father is still as sharp as a tack in most matters – woe betide anyone trying to con him on the doorstep. But he’s only had an email account