Digital Safety for People Over 60 - Without the Headache

This is what digital confidence actually looks like. Not confused. Not intimidated. Just a person who knows what she's doing, and enjoys it. That's exactly where we're taking you today.

Can I be honest with you for a second?

When most people hear the phrase "digital safety," they immediately picture a very serious person in a very grey PowerPoint presentation using words like "phishing vectors" and "multi-factor authentication protocols."

And then they close the tab and go make tea.

I don't blame them. I've sat through those presentations. They're terrible.

So we're not doing that today. Today we're going to talk about staying safe online in a way that is actually useful, occasionally funny, and won't require you to take notes or pass a quiz at the end.

You're welcome.

Let's Start With the Honest Truth

Here's something the tech industry doesn't love to admit:

Most of the reason people over 60 struggle with online safety is not because they're not smart enough.

It's because nobody ever actually explained it to them properly.

The people who built the internet were mostly in their 20s, designing for other people in their 20s, using language that made sense to other people in their 20s.

The rest of us were just expected to figure it out. Like assembling furniture without instructions and then being blamed when the shelf falls down.

That ends here.

The Scam That Almost Got My Friend's Mother-in-Law

Before we get into the practical stuff, I want to tell you about something that happened to a woman in our community, I'll call her Barbara, because she has the energy of a Barbara (Barbara, they're coming to get you) .

Barbara got a phone call. The man on the other end said he was from Microsoft. Very official. Very concerned. He told her that her computer had been sending him error messages all week and that it was about to crash permanently, taking all her photos with it.

All her photos. Including forty years of family pictures.

Barbara, understandably panicked a little.

The man offered to fix it remotely. All he needed was access to her computer and a small fee of $299.

Barbara almost did it.

She called her son first. Her son, who I'd like to nominate for some kind of award, calmly explained that Microsoft does not call people. Microsoft has never called people. Microsoft couldn't find your phone number if they tried. They can barely find their own paperclip.

Barbara hung up. Barbara's photos are fine.

But here's the part that matters; Barbara is a sharp, funny, completely competent woman. She almost fell for it not because she was gullible, but because the scammer knew exactly which button to push.

The photos. Of course it was the photos.

These people are professionals. Let's treat them like it.

The Four Things That Will Actually Protect You

No jargon. No grey PowerPoint. Just the four things that genuinely matter.

1. Nobody Official Will Ever Call You Out of the Blue

Not Microsoft. Not Apple. Not the CRA. Not the IRS. Not the bank fraud department. Not the government. Not Amazon.

None of them. Ever.

If you get an unsolicited call from anyone claiming to represent a company or government agency and they want you to do something immediately, hang up. You don't have to be rude about it. You can say "I'll call you back" and then call the real number from the real website.

But you do not have to stay on the line. You do not owe a scammer your time or your politeness.

Hang up. The moment something feels off, hang up.

The real CRA sends letters. The real Microsoft sends... nothing, actually, because they don't know you exist personally. The real bank will still be there when you call them back on the number on your card.

2. Slow Down. Urgency Is the Weapon.

Every scam and I mean every single one, uses urgency as its primary weapon.

"Act now or your account will be closed."

"You must pay within the hour or you'll be arrested."

"Your computer will crash in the next ten minutes."

"This offer expires at midnight."

This is not an accident. Urgency is designed to bypass your brain's very sensible habit of thinking things through. When we're panicking, we don't reason well. Scammers know this. It's their whole business model.

So here's the one sentence I want you to memorize and use freely:

"I never make decisions about money or personal information on the same day. I'll call you back."

Say it to scammers. Say it to aggressive salespeople. Say it to that very pushy man at the timeshare presentation. It works everywhere.

Real situations can wait 24 hours. Fake ones cannot, which is exactly how you know the difference.

3. Your Password Situation Needs a Little Attention

I say this with love.

If your password is your pet's name, your birthday, the word "password," or the word "password1", because adding the number definitely makes it safer, we need to have a conversation.

And if you're using the same password for your email, your bank, your Facebook, and that recipe website you signed up for six years ago and never visited again, that's also a conversation.

Here's why it matters. When companies get hacked — and they do, constantly — the stolen passwords get sold in bulk to criminals who then try them on your bank, your email, and everywhere else automatically. It takes seconds.

You don't need to memorize forty different passwords. You need a password manager, an app that remembers them all for you, locked behind one strong master password that only you know.

The two best ones for beginners: Bitwarden (free) and 1Password (about three dollars a month). Both are straightforward and both have excellent plain-language setup guides.

We did a full walkthrough on passwords and data breaches [including how to check in 60 seconds whether your password has already been stolen]. Worth a look.

4. Two-Factor Authentication Is Your Best Friend

Bear with me on this one because the name is terrible but the thing itself is simple.

Two-factor authentication, people also call it 2FA, because tech people love abbreviations, just means that logging into an account requires two things instead of one. Usually your password plus a code sent to your phone.

So even if someone steals your password, they still can't get in without your phone. One extra step. Enormous difference.

Turn it on for:

• Your email — this is the most important one

• Your bank account

• Your Apple ID or Google account

• Your Facebook

On iPhone: Settings → your name → Password & Security → Two-Factor Authentication. On Android: myaccount.google.com → Security → 2-Step Verification. On Facebook: Settings → Security and Login → Two-Factor Authentication.

I know. More settings. But this one specifically is the single most effective thing you can do for your digital safety and it takes about four minutes per account.

Four minutes. One time. Significant protection forever.

The Things That Are Fine, Actually

Can we talk about what you don't need to worry about? Because I think a lot of people carry around a vague background anxiety about the internet that is bigger than it needs to be.

Online shopping is fine. Provided you're using a site you recognize, with a padlock icon in the address bar, and paying by credit card rather than wire transfer or gift card. Credit cards have fraud protection. If something goes wrong, you can dispute it. Wire transfers and gift cards cannot be reversed.

Video calling your family is fine. Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp — all fine. The scam version of video calls is rare and looks very different from a normal call with your grandchildren.

Reading the news online is fine. Just be a little skeptical of headlines that seem designed primarily to make you furious. They often are.

Social media is mostly fine. With some adjustments to your privacy settings, which we covered in our guide on [what Facebook is actually doing with your data].

The internet is not a minefield. It's more like a big city. Mostly fine. Some neighbourhoods you want to know about. A few people you want to avoid. Perfectly navigable with a bit of awareness.

The Digital Safety Checklist — Fridge Edition

Print this out. Actually put it on the fridge. I'm serious.

✅ Unsolicited call asking for money or access? Hang up.

✅ Email or text creating urgency? Wait 24 hours before doing anything.

✅ Request for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency? Scam. Always.

✅ Someone asking for remote access to your computer? No. Full stop.

✅ Link in a text claiming to be from Apple, your bank, or the CRA? Don't click. Go to the real website directly.

✅ Something feels off? Trust that feeling. It's usually right.

Want to Go Deeper Without Going to Sleep?

We built a free mini-course specifically for this — it walks through your smartphone's most important security settings step by step, at whatever pace works for you.

No tech jargon. No grey slides. No quiz.

Just practical, clear guidance built for adults 60 and over who want to feel confident online without having to become a computer scientist to get there.

*➡️ [Access the free course at tech4grownups.com — it's completely free.]

*➡️ Ready to check if a scammer already has your password? [Read: How to Check if Your Email or Password Has Been Stolen — it takes 60 seconds.]

*➡️ Not sure what to do if you or someone you love actually gets scammed? [Read: How to Report a Scam — Canada, USA, UK and Europe.]

Has a scam call ever caught you off guard, even for a second? Or do you have a story about someone you know who nearly fell for something? Drop it in the comments. No judgment here whatsoever. These things are designed by professionals to fool people, and sharing what they look like helps everyone recognize them faster.