Stop Scam Calls on a Senior's Phone: 2026 Setup Guide

Why the phone is the dangerous room in the house

Adults 60 and older reported $2.4 billion in fraud losses in 2024, up from about $600 million in 2020, and people 80 and over lost the most per person, with a median reported loss above $1,600.¹ Tech support scams alone took $159 million from older adults that year.¹ A great deal of that starts with a ringing phone and a voice that sounds urgent.

The FTC’s own advice is blunt: for an illegal robocall, “hang up and don’t call back. Don’t press a number, which could lead to more robocalls.”² The trouble is that advice asks the person to win a judgment call, every time, against a professional. The better plan is to arrange the phone so most of those calls never ring. This guide does that in an afternoon, for free, on any phone.

Step 1: Make unknown numbers stop ringing

This is the one change that matters most, and it takes two minutes.

On an iPhone

Go to Settings, tap Apps, then tap Phone. Scroll to Screen Unknown Callers and choose Silence, which “automatically silences these calls and sends them to voicemail.”⁴ Newer iPhones also offer Ask Reason for Calling, which makes an unknown caller state their business before the phone rings; use Silence for someone who would be confused by a screened call, and Ask Reason for someone who still gets calls from new doctors’ offices.⁴

Add every important number to Contacts so you “always see these calls.”⁴ One safety note from Apple: “If you call emergency services, call screening turns off for 24 hours,” so a 911 call will not block the hospital calling back.⁴

On an Android phone

Open the Phone app, tap More options, then Settings, then Caller ID and spam. Google’s spam protection “is on by default,” and turning on Filter spam calls means flagged calls are kept out of the way: you “don’t get missed call or voicemail notifications, but filtered calls are in your call history.”⁵ On Pixel phones, the automatic Call Screen feature replaces that switch, with spam autoblocking as one of its options.⁵

Step 2: Turn on the free carrier filter

Each major carrier runs a free filter that flags or blocks known robocallers at the network, before the phone’s own setting has to decide. The FTC’s advice is to “check your phone provider’s website or call customer service” to see what it offers.² Here is what the three big ones offer.

• Verizon Call Filter. Free on standard monthly and prepaid plans with a compatible phone. It “screens incoming callers to alert you if a number may be spam, a robocall or fraud” and “blocks high-risk spam calls by forwarding to voicemail.” Call Filter Plus adds caller ID, a personal block list, and blocking by category for $3.99 a month.⁶
• AT&T ActiveArmor. “Free with every AT&T wireless plan,” with “fraud and spam call blocking” that lets you “block unwanted calls or have them sent to voicemail.” The advanced tier is $7 a month and is mostly identity-theft insurance and credit monitoring, which you can skip for call blocking.⁷
• T-Mobile Scam Shield. Scam ID and Scam Block are free. Scam ID labels suspected scam calls automatically; Scam Block stops them, and you turn it on by dialing #662# from the phone (#632# turns it off). Premium adds category blocking and reverse lookup for $4 a month per line.⁸

The free tiers are enough. The paid tiers mostly add caller ID for the calls you are already not answering.

Step 3: Register on Do Not Call, and know what it does

Put the number on the National Do Not Call Registry at DoNotCall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone being registered. It is free and “will never expire.”³

It is still worth the two minutes, for a reason that has nothing to do with scammers. Once the lawful telemarketers stop, every remaining sales call is by definition suspect, and that is an easy rule for anyone to remember.

Step 4: Handle the landline

Many older adults still answer a home phone, and the fix depends on which kind of home phone it is.

Internet-based home phone. If the phone plugs into a cable or fiber modem, which is most home phones now, the FTC notes “your phone provider might recommend a specific service,” and third-party services exist, “some free and some charge you each month.”² Nomorobo protects “supported VoIP and digital landlines from unwanted robocalls, automatically,” for $39.99 a year per line, stopping known robocalls while “legitimate calls keep ringing.”⁹ Check the provider’s list before paying.

Copper landline. For a traditional line with no internet, the FTC’s advice is to “consider buying and installing a call-blocking device,” usually a small box that attaches between the wall jack and the phone. Some use databases of known scam numbers; “some also use lists of approved numbers.”²

For an older person, buy the approved-list kind. Only numbers you enter ring through, and everyone else gets a message or silence. It is the landline version of Silence Unknown Callers, and it is the right answer when the rules have stopped working.

When the rules stop working

Every caregiver who has tried the “just don’t answer” approach knows how this goes. One daughter on a caregiver forum wrote: “We have told her over and over not to answer the phone if it is not from a name she recognizes. I have witnessed her answer the calls while I am sitting in the room.”¹¹ Blocking numbers one by one did not help either: “these crooks that take advantage of the elderly just call from another number.”¹¹

That is not a failure of the person. A phone that rings has been answered for 70 years, and a scammer’s whole craft is to sound like someone who should be. The answer is to take the decision away from the phone entirely, with the settings in Steps 1 and 4, and to set it up yourself rather than explaining it. Then test it: call from a number not in Contacts and confirm the phone stays quiet.

If the person has memory loss, pair this with the rest of our dementia-proofing guide, and consider whether a simpler phone with a short approved contact list is the better tool.

The three rules that beat the rest

Settings catch most calls. These three rules catch the ones that get through, and they are short enough to tape by the phone.

1. Unknown number, let it ring. If it matters, they will leave a message, and you can call back.

2. An agency or a bank calling you means hang up and call the number on your card. Medicare says it “will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home,” and will only call asking for personal information in limited situations such as returning your call.¹⁰ Its rule: never give your Medicare Number or Social Security Number to anyone except your doctor or people you know should have it.¹⁰ Caller ID is no proof, because scammers fake names and numbers, sometimes using your own area code and first six digits.²

3. Gift cards, wire transfers, or a rush decision means it is a scam. No real agency, utility, or grandchild in trouble needs to be paid in gift card codes within the hour. The right move for a frightening call about a family member is to hang up and call that person, or their parent, on the number you already have.

Where this fits

A silenced phone is one piece of keeping an older person safe at home, next to the door-scam script in our home security guide and the contractor red flags in how to check a contractor. If the person lives alone, the same contacts list you built here is the one a medical alert system will call, and our guide to staying connected by phone and video makes sure the calls that should get through, do.

Key takeaways

• Silence unknown callers on the phone, then load every number that matters into Contacts.
• Turn on the free carrier filter: Verizon Call Filter, AT&T ActiveArmor, or T-Mobile’s #662#.
• Do Not Call stops telemarketers, not scammers, which makes every remaining sales call suspect.
• Landlines: provider blocking or Nomorobo for internet phones, an approved-list box for copper.
• Three rules: let unknown ring, hang up on “agencies” and call the card, gift cards mean scam.

What’s next

• Choose a phone built for this: best cell phones for seniors.
• Cover the front door too: home security for seniors.
• Keep the right calls coming: technology to help seniors stay connected.
• If memory is the concern: dementia-proofing the home.

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Reviewed by John Smith, CAPS, Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist. This guide is general consumer-safety information, not legal or financial advice. Carrier features and prices change; confirm the current terms in the carrier’s app before paying for an upgrade.