Someone Charged My Elderly Parent Over the Phone for Something They Didn’t Want — Here’s Exactly What to Do

“A company that takes money from an 88-year-old over the phone without making sure they fully understood what they were buying is the one in the wrong. Not your parent.”

I talk to people about debt and money every single day through Ask Steve on this site. And this week, something came through that I can’t stop thinking about.

An 88-year-old person with a hearing problem called a company about locking their credit reports. They thought they were paying a one-time fee. Instead, they got charged $258 for a service they didn’t understand, and then a $24.99 monthly charge started hitting their credit card for “credit monitoring” they explicitly said they didn’t want.

They spent hours on hold trying to reach someone at the company. Nobody answered.

And then they said five words that broke my heart: “It was my fault because I misunderstood.”

No. It wasn’t. And if something like this has happened to your parent, grandparent, or anyone you love over 75 — this is the post you need right now. And if a debt collector is threatening a parent who lives on Social Security, my crisis guide on collector threats against Social Security income explains why that money is almost always legally untouchable.

This Isn’t a Billing Dispute. It’s a Pattern.

What happened to this person isn’t an isolated incident. It’s a documented, tracked, and growing pattern that has a name: elder financial exploitation.

Phone-based scams produce the highest median loss of any contact method — $2,210 per victim, compared to $650 for social media scams. And 41% of older adults who lost $10,000 or more to impostor scams reported that a phone call was the initial contact.

The CFPB has taken at least ten enforcement actions against companies for illegally marketing credit card add-on products — including credit monitoring services enrolled without proper authorization. In one case, a company billed approximately 300,000 consumers knowing they weren’t receiving the promised benefits.

Your parent wasn’t careless. They were targeted by a business model that depends on older adults not fighting back. The FTC recently shut down an $8.8 million operation that used similar high-pressure phone tactics.

What to Do Right Now — the First 48 Hours

Step 1: Dispute the Charge With the Credit Card Company

This is the fastest path to getting money back. Call the number on the back of the card — not the company that charged them.

Have your parent say exactly this (or say it for them if they’ve given permission): “I am [age] years old. I have a hearing problem. I did not fully understand what I was purchasing, and I want a full refund.”

Also ask the card company to block all future charges from that merchant. They can do this.

Step 2: Document Everything

• Screenshot the company’s website today (it may change or disappear)
• Save every email, receipt, and confirmation
• Check the credit card statement for the exact merchant name — it may differ from what was said on the phone
• Write down a timeline: when the call happened, what was said, when the charges appeared

Step 3: Report to Adult Protective Services

This is the step most people skip — and it’s the most important one.

Adult Protective Services (APS) investigates financial exploitation of older adults. You don’t need proof. You don’t need to have the company’s name pinned down. You just need to report what happened.

Search for “[your state] Adult Protective Services” to find your local office. A family member can file the report — your parent doesn’t have to do it alone.

Step 4: File Federal and State Complaints

Two more reports that take 10 minutes each and carry real weight:

• FTC: File at ReportFraud.ftc.gov — the Federal Trade Commission tracks elder fraud nationally and uses these reports to build enforcement cases
• State Attorney General: Search for “[your state] Attorney General consumer complaint” — your state AG has authority to investigate companies operating in your state and has subpoena power the FTC doesn’t

Step 5: Call the Eldercare Locator

If you’re not sure where to start or your parent needs ongoing help, call 1-800-677-1116 (Monday–Friday, 8 AM–9 PM ET). This is a federal service run by the U.S. Administration on Aging — not a sales line, not a referral fee operation. They connect older adults with local Area Agencies on Aging, which provide free assistance with financial exploitation, benefits, and protective services.

How to Talk to Your Parent About This

This is the hardest part — and the part nobody writes about.

Your parent is probably ashamed. They may say it was their fault. They may resist your help because accepting it feels like admitting they can’t handle their own finances anymore.

Here’s what I’d say if they were sitting across from me:

Don’t take over. Sit with them. Make the calls together. Let them be part of the solution, not the problem. The goal is to resolve this situation while preserving their dignity — because the shame of being scammed is often more damaging than the money lost.

Warning Signs to Watch For Going Forward

If this happened once, the risk is elevated. Companies often sell customer lists, meaning your parent’s phone number may now be flagged as someone who answered and engaged. Some scammers even target specific communities and faith groups to exploit trust. Watch for:

• New charges on credit card statements for services they don’t recognize
• Mail from unfamiliar financial companies offering “protection” or “monitoring”
• Phone calls from people claiming to be from their bank, the IRS, or Social Security — here’s how to verify if a caller is legitimate
• Reluctance to discuss finances or unexplained anxiety around the mail or phone
• Missing money or unusual withdrawals they can’t explain

The Bigger Picture — Why I Wrote This

I’ve been helping people with money problems for over 30 years. I went bankrupt myself in 1990. I’ve talked to tens of thousands of people about the worst financial moments of their lives.

And the conversations that stay with me the longest are with older adults who think what happened to them is their fault. Because it almost never is. The companies that do this are sophisticated. They know exactly how to frame a phone call so it sounds like the person is agreeing to something simple. They count on hearing problems, on confusion, on politeness, on the fact that older adults were raised to trust businesses that sound professional.

The FTC just reported to Congress that fraud losses by older adults have quadrupled in four years. The Journal of Accountancy reports that elder fraud is now rising faster as scammers use AI to make phone calls sound even more convincing.

This isn’t getting better on its own. If you have an elderly parent, this post is your playbook. Send it to someone who needs it.

This is what I’m seeing after 30 years of helping people with money problems. I wrote this because the person in our Ask Steve chat shouldn’t have to carry this alone — and neither should your parent. Take my advice as input, not instruction. Only you know your parent’s full situation. Use this as a starting point, not a directive. Nobody gets to tell you or your family what to do — not me, not anyone.

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