Creating friction to prevent scamming

Bank card poking out of envelope that can fully contain it and has Is this a scam? written on it
A.Somerville, 2024

Still trying to help my mother not get scammed by people who phone her demanding money.

They use the classic Triple of authority (I am from the Bank or the Police), emotion (something has happened: a payment missed, a fraud detected) and urgency (do this now, tell me your details quickly).

It’s battering rush of demands that are hard to hold off. I nearly got caught by one claiming to be a police officer investigating fraud.

Making friction physical

What I’ve made for my mother is a card holder to wrap round the bank card. Tap for payment still works fine so personal shopping is not interfered with.

What it does do is make reading off the cards numbers more difficult. It creates physical frictions and slows the process down. The words are there to try and break that battering rush.

I’m not sure it will work but it is another attempt to try and help her maintain her agency and autonomy in the face of criminals who abuse older adults.

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